Over 50 members of the Association of California State Supervisors walked the halls of the state Capitol on Wednesday, March 15, bringing the issues -- and financial plight -- of state managers, supervisors, exempt and confidentials to their individual lawmakers from both the Senate and the Assembly.
It was ACSS' 6th Annual Lobby Day at the Capitol, and participants reported that the messages from the first five ACSS Lobby Days -- 2001 through 2005 -- had helped educate lawmakers on who "excluded employees" are and what ACSS, as an organization, is trying to accomplish.
The strongest message each member-constituent brought to his/her senator and assemblymember was that the "State's Management Team" hasn't had a raise in six years. Most lawmakers and their staffers were appalled that the state could allow its leadership to fall into such a salary lag. Members explained that DPA is the agency responsible for approving salary increases, but that DPA has specifically EXCLUDED these state leaders from any increases, even though during these years most of their subordinates have received regular salary, benefit and recruitment improvements through the collective bargaining process.
Even DPA Director Michael Navarro has said publicly, including during his confirmation hearing in the Senate, that managers and supervisors have been an "afterthought" when it comes to salary improvements. He also promised the ACSS leadership on numerous occasions that he was going to rectify this situation. He hasn't done that and, in fact, on Jan. 12, 2006, he sent a letter to all Agency Secretaries and Department Directors announcing that DPA would NOT be giving excluded employees a salary increase in 2005-06. That means 2006 is the sixth year in a row that the State's Management Team will not realize an increase in their pay.
Do state managers and supervisors feel valued? How can they continue to pay their bills when their buying power has clearly diminished over the past six years? And how can the state expect to promote the best and brightest rank-and-file employees into leadership roles when these employees will not get any salary improvements? These are the questions posed to senators and assemblymembers during the Lobby Day effort. And the legislators were listening!
ACSS members asked each legislator to support AB 1186 (J. Horton), which would create an Excluded and Exempt Compensation Advisory Commission for the sole purpose of determining appropriate annual salary and benefit recommendations to the governor and Legislature. They also asked the lawmakers to support SB 1447 (Soto), which would provide a monthly management incentive of $200 to every state excluded employee, effective Jan. 1, 2007. This incentive would give some financial relief to members of the State's Management Team until such time that the Legislature and governor make a permanent salary adjustment for these state leaders.
Popular ACSS Ice Cream Social
Following our lobbying effort, ACSS held its annual Ice Cream Social in the Capitol's 6th floor cafeteria, to which the governor, all legislators and all Capitol staffers were invited. Over 400 lawmakers and staff members enjoyed chocolate, vanilla and green mint chocolate chip ice cream, and ACSS members took the opportunity to once again bring our message to these decision makers.
This Lobby Day at the Capitol proved very successful. As a necessary followup, each ACSS chapter is being asked to visit their senators and assemblymembers in their local "district" offices to really emphasize how important passage of AB 1186 and SB 1447 is to our members. ACSS is asking YOU to take one hour of your time to personally visit your legislator in their local offices and let them know you are depending on their support, just as they depend on your vote and support. Call the ACSS Headquarters office (800-624-2137) or your Chapter president and set up a convenient time to do this followup visit. It very well could mean the difference between getting these bills passed ... or going another year WITHOUT A RAISE!
ACSS will provide you with all the materials and some pointers on how to make your visit to your legislators successful. We will even arrange to have a Chapter member or ACSS staffer accompany you o your visit. YES ... it's that important!
ACSS needs your help. Together we can educate our decision makers and get the appropriate salary adjustment for all excluded employees, including YOU.