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Smart Voter
Los Angeles County, CA March 8, 2011 Election
Charter Amendment LA-Q
Civil Service Hiring Rule Changes
City of Los Angeles
Charter Amendment - Majority Approval Required
Official Results

Pass: 125,403 / 62.9% Yes votes ...... 73,973 / 37.1% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures
Information shown below: Summary | Fiscal Impact | Official Information | Arguments |

Shall the Charter be amended to: (1) expand the automatic civil service exemptions to include Deputy Chiefs of Fire; (2) limit the number of qualified applicants testing for civil service positions to an adequate number to prevent examinations of unnecessarily large candidate pools; (3) eliminate the requirement for certifying all eligible candidates for appointment to a civil service position when the candidates' scores are not reachable or when no hiring is taking place; (4) clarify and standardize the probationary period for police officers to accurately reflect its application to sworn officers from the Airport, Harbor and General Services Departments; (5) increase the length of emergency appointments to no longer than one year; and (6) extend the amount of time retirees may work from 90 to 120 days without increasing pension benefits?

Summary Prepared by the Ballot Simplification Committee:
THE SITUATION:

Current Charter employment provisions:

  • Specify examination and certification processes for civil service employment and promotion;
  • Treat certain sworn personnel differently across departments; and
  • Limit the length of emergency appointments and the amount of time retirees may work.

THE PROPOSAL:

This measure would amend the employment provisions to:

  • Limit the number of applicants tested for certain civil service positions;
  • Eliminate the requirement that an eligible candidate be certified three times for appointment to a civil service position;
  • Exempt all Deputy Chiefs of Fire from civil service provisions;
  • Standardize the probation period for sworn police officers in the City of Los Angeles;
  • Increase the length of emergency appointments to no longer than one year; and
  • Extend the amount of time retirees may work from 90 to 120 days.

A YES VOTE MEANS:

You want to amend the employment provisions of the Charter.

A NO VOTE MEANS:

You do not want to amend the employment provisions of the Charter.

Fiscal Impact from Miguel A. Santana
City Administrative Officer:
This measure would reduce administrative costs to City departments by reducing personnel related functions such as the examination and appointment of City employees.

Official Sources of Information

   Nonpartisan Information

Ballotpedia
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Arguments For Charter Amendment LA-Q
The employment provisions of the City Charter have guided the City's human resource managers for the past several decades by providing an array of policies that emphasize merit, fairness, and consistency. In the past few years, under a tightly constrained budget, City managers have been asked to continue delivering City services with shrinking staffing levels. The proposed changes to the Charter, while maintaining the same underlying principles of merit, fairness, and consistency, assist managers operating with significantly reduced resources to continue delivering quality services to the community.

The changes to the employment provisions seek to increase operational flexibility, provide a means to alleviate some of the knowledge gaps caused by staff reductions, increase efficiency, and reduce costs. These changes will save taxpayer dollars without limiting the requirements for fairness and openness in the hiring process and will leave unchanged the rights of employees to compete for promotional opportunities. In addition, flexibility in employee assignments will create more efficient delivery of services and reduce costs.

Updating the employment provisions of the City Charter is a vital step in shifting the City's human resource function to meet the current economy's requirements for greater cost efficiency, greater accountability, and the internal flexibility to address rapid organizational change.

These amendments cannot be implemented without voter approval and we urge your support.

PERSONS SIGNING ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF CHARTER AMENDMENT Q

COUNCILMAN DENNIS P. ZINE
Chairman
Personnel Committee

MARGARET WHELAN
General Manager
Personnel Department

LEONARD J. SHAFFER
President
Tarzana Neighborhood Council

(No arguments against Charter Amendment LA-Q were submitted)

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Created: September 13, 2011 11:10 PDT
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