BILL NUMBER: S5651

SPONSOR: PARKER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to the creation of an
annual report on the race and ethnic data of individuals who have taken
a civil service examination

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF THE BILL:

This legislation requires the creation of an annual report on the race
and ethnic data of individuals who have taken civil service exams.
Department of Civil Service has failed to ensure diversity in state
government workforce. Their outreach methods to increase diversity
remain unquantifiable and attempts to create a matrix to measure their
efforts have been ignored.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Section 7 of the civil service law is amended by adding a new
              

subdivision 7 to read as follows:

Sec 7. The president of the commission shall collect data on the ethnic-
ity and race of every individual who takes a civil service examination
issued or approved by the department and the president shall prepare an
annual report describing the data collected. Such report shall be
published no later than November thirteenth of each year, beginning in
two thousand sixteen, and shall report information on the basis of the
governor and the legislature and shall report information on the basis
of the last completed state fiscal year. The report shall be delivered
to the governor and the legislature and shall be made available to the
public via the department's website.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This legislation requires the creation of an annual report on the race
and ethnic data of individuals who have taken civil service exams.
Department of Civil Service has failed to ensure diversity in state
government workforce. Their outreach methods to increase diversity
remain unquantifiable and attempts to create a matrix to measure their
efforts have been ignored.

The Department of Civil Service continues to assert that they advertise
civil service exams via community based groups from diverse communities.
Yet when the exam is given, they do not collect any data on the race or
ethnicity of the text takers therefore there is no way they can gauge of
their pre-test outreach is working. Obviously based on the appalling
hiring of minorities documented below their outreach needs a total
revamping.

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 underrepresentation 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 employees performing such duties are not AAOs. This
legislation reverses this situation and strengthens the role of these
employees by providing them with a variety of tools.

*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 popu-
lation 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.  Priority Legis-
lation for PR/H Task Force based on 2005 Report by same on lack of
diversity in state government workforce.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2019-20: S.5062 - Referred to Civil Service and Pensions
2017-18: S.7234 - REFERRED TO CIVIL SERVICE AND PENSIONS
2017: S.4985 - REFERRED TO CIVIL SERVICE AND PENSIONS
2016: S.7147 - REFERRED TO CIVIL SERVICE AND PENSIONS/A.8039-referred to
governmental employees
2015: A.8039 -referred to governmental employees

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT:

NONE

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.