Senate Bill S4328

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S4328

SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to
the promotion and administration of scheduled exams

 
PURPOSE:

Relates to the promotion and administration of scheduled civil service
exams to assist in the recruitment of qualified minority candidates via
SUNY's Educational Opportunity Centers. EOCs, as they are known, are
considered the 65 campus of the State University System and annually
train over 14,000 residents for entry level jobs and education related
matter.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section I. Subdivision 2 of section 50 of the civil service law, as
amended by chapter 166 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as
follows:

              

2. Announcement of examination. The State Civil Service Department and
municipal commissions shall issue an announcement of each competitive
examination, setting forth the minimum qualifications required, the
subjects of the examination, and such other information as they may deem
necessary, and shall advertise and promote such examination in such
manner as the nature of the examination may require. Such announcement
and advertisement shall each inform prospective applicants of the
options for religious observance provided in subdivision 8 of this
section.

Section II. Section 50 of the civil service law is amended by adding a
new subdivision 5-2 to read as follows: 5-a. Location of Examination.
All competitive and continuous recruitment examinations administered by
the State Civil Service Department shall be held at the state university
of New York educational opportunity centers.

Section III. Sets forth the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This legislation intends to improve the promotion and administration of
scheduled civil service exams to assist in the recruitment of qualified
minority candidates via SUNY's Educational Opportunity Centers. EOCs, as
they are known, are considered the 65 campus of the State University
System and annually train over 14,000 residents for entry level jobs and
education related matter.

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 orrthe appalling
hiring of minorities documented below, their outreach needs a total
revamping. By using EOCs as part of their exam locations, DCS now has an
audience of increased qualified minorities that can compete for state
government jobs.


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 7 proposals put forward by task force to
address the problems.

*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 more than 11,000 jobs lost by this group represent
an almost 30%decline in the African-American state workforce. This
reduction came during a period when the African-American population in
New York grew by 16.1%.

*For African-Americans, the loss of the 11,000 jobs at the average state
salary of $53,000 translates into a loss of over $550 million dollars in
annual salaries. For Hispanics their under-representation translates
into a loss of over $860 million in annual salaries.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICAT TO THE STATE:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.