BILL NUMBER:  S4924

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the civil service law, in relation
to requiring certain state agencies to employ a competitive class
affirmative action officer or administrator

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :

This legislation seeks to protect and strengthen the role of
affirmative action officers in all state agencies by providing that
each agency have a full-time affirmative action officer that reports
directly to the agency head and are provided with continued education
opportunities in the area of affirmative action, equal employment
opportunity and human rights.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :

Section 1- Article 2 of the civil service law is amended by adding a
new title A-1. This article defines the process by which state
affirmative officers and administrators are hired into competitive
positions that will allow them the latitude to perform their duties
without fear of retaliation or job loss.

Section 2 - requires that every affirmative action
officer/administrator employed by a state agency shall be employed the
agency head and report directly to that person and no one else in so
              

as to provide these employees with access to the top decision making
authority in that agency. This will help address the issue of lack of
diversity in state agencies because workforce planning issues by
agency heads will have input by such employees. Affirmative action
officers/ administrator are required to participate in recruitment and
interviewing process.

Section 3 - requires for the establishment of a continuing education
program (CEP) for all affirmative action officers/administrators that
will help them gain the necessary skills to perform their jobs by
learning about rules and regulations relating to affirmative action,
equal employment opportunity and human rights. Changes in these laws
at both the federal and state level, and court decisions require such
ongoing training for these employees to be successful in their job
requirements. Requires that the CEP must be in place for 18 months
prior to any examination for AA0 and AAA.

Section 4 - This section requires that all state agencies that
employee 100 or more employees shall have a full-time affirmative
action officer/administrator. Presently, many agencies do not have a
dedicated affirmative action officer/administrator and individuals now
performing such duties have conflict of interest situations because
they have other job requirements and other job classifications mixed
with their affirmative action duties. In large agencies, these
employees have no staff and are unable to perform these duties
effectively while having to focus on other job requirements because of
their dual job roles.  This will eliminate such conflicts of interest
and allow for affirmative action officers/administrators to have civil
rights as their sole responsibility.

 JUSTIFICATION :

A 2005 report by the New York State Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic
Task Force, a subsequent public hearing and other meetings with
minority workers has yielded valuable suggestion that need legislative
action to remedy what the 2005 report called, an appalling
under-representation of minorities in civil service and policy making
positions in the Pataki Administration. This is one of five proposals
put forward by task force to address the problems.

The lack of workforce diversity now seen in New York State was created
because over the years affirmative action officers/administrators have
no job protection, and are marginalized by agency heads. In fact, many
of the current employee performing such duties are not MOs. This
legislation reverses this situation and strengthens the role of these
employees by providing them with a variety of tools.

This legislation mandates that all affirmative action
officers/administrators shall be hired as competitive classified
positions. The common practice of not providing AAAs and AAOs with
protected employment status has created fear and an inability to
authoritatively perform their duties.

This legislation will provide job security, promotion opportunities
and require that these employees report directly to agency head and no
one else. Presently AAOs report to a variety of low level managers
that show no priority in EEO guidelines. The result of this problem is
documented by the findings of the report mentioned above: *In 2005,
Hispanics made up over 16% of the entire state population but
accounted for only 3.8 percent or 6.515 of the 169.571 jobs in the
state government workforce. In real terms, this is a decline in close
to 1,000 jobs since 1991 or a 12.2% reduction in the number of
Hispanic state workers. This reduction came during a period when the
Hispanic population in New York grew by 33%.

*In 2015 Hispanics make up almost 19% of the entire state population
but account for 400 less jobs than they had in State government or
6,142 jobs out of 131,800.

*Since 1991, the African-American civil service workforce has seen a
dramatic decline. The 8,836 jobs lost by this group represent a 26.7%
decline in the African-American state workforce. This reduction came
during a period when the African-American population in New York grew
by 13.1%.

*For African-Americans, the loss of the 8,836 jobs at the average
state salary of $53,000 translates into a loss of over $468 million
dollars in annual salaries. For Hispanics their under-representation
translates into a loss of over $860 million in annual salaries.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2016: S.7146- REFERRED TO CIVIL SERVICE AND PENSIONS/A.8038-referred
to governmental employees
2015: A.8038- referred to governmental employees

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS :

Not applicable.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law, provided that subdivision of section 12-a of the civil
service law, as amended by section one of this act shall take effect
on the 180th day after it shall have become a law.