SENATE BILL 215
49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2010
INTRODUCED BY
Sue Wilson Beffort
AN ACT
RELATING TO STATE EMPLOYMENT; ENACTING THE FREEZE MEANS FREEZE ACT; REQUIRING THE PERSONNEL BOARD TO PROMULGATE RULES TO BE APPROVED BY THE STATE AUDITOR THAT SET CRITERIA FOR HIRING FREEZE EXEMPTION APPOINTMENTS; REQUIRING EXECUTIVE AGENCIES
TO CONFORM TO CERTAIN PROCEDURES FOR HIRING FREEZE EXEMPTION APPOINTMENTS; REQUIRING THE PERSONNEL BOARD TO PUBLISH PERSONNEL CLASSIFICATIONS IN THE NEW MEXICO ADMINISTRATIVE CODE.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. [NEW MATERIAL] SHORT TITLE.--Sections 1 through 4 of this act may be cited as the "Freeze Means Freeze Act".
Section 2. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Freeze Means Freeze Act:
A. "agency" means any executive department, bureau, division, branch or administrative group that is under the same state employer;
B. "board" means the personnel board;
C. "classified employee" means a person in a position in the state personnel service who has completed that person's probationary period and is covered under the Personnel Act;
D. "exempt employee" means a person in a position in the executive branch who is not covered under the Personnel Act, including an employee who is:
(1) a member of a board or commission or a head of an agency appointed by the governor;
(2) a head of an agency appointed by a board or commission;
(3) a director of a department division;
(4) employed by an educational institution or by a public school;
(5) employed by a state institution or by a state agency providing educational programs and who is required to hold a valid certificate as a certified school instructor as defined in Section 22-1-2 NMSA 1978 issued by the public education commission;
(6) employed by the office of the governor;
(7) employed by the national guard of New Mexico or the commissioned officers of the New Mexico state police division of the department of public safety;
(8) employed in a capacity that is of a professional or scientific nature that is temporary in nature; or
(9) a state employee if the board in its discretion decides that the position is one of policymaking;
E. "exemption appointment" means an appointment to a classified or exempt employee position during a state personnel hiring freeze;
F. "hiring freeze" means a law or an executive order that mandates that no new hiring or selection transactions take place for new or vacant positions within the executive branch unless the board grants a hiring freeze exemption;
G. "hiring freeze exemption" means an exemption to the hiring freeze that the board grants during a state personnel hiring freeze; and
H. "technical occupation group" means a grouping that the state personnel office uses, based on the standard occupation classification system devised by the bureau of labor statistics at the federal department of labor, to describe and sort, by occupation, all work performed in the United States, according to which system each technical occupation group represents the continuum of non-managerial jobs within an occupation, from the most basic to the most advanced.
Section 3. [NEW MATERIAL] HIRING FREEZE EXEMPTION APPOINTMENTS--PROCEDURES--RESTRICTION ON MAKING NONCRITICAL EXEMPTION APPOINTMENTS.--
A. The board shall promulgate rules pursuant to the provisions of Section 4 of the Freeze Means Freeze Act setting forth the criteria for making an exemption appointment. The rules shall pertain to both exempt and non-exempt employees. They shall include the job classifications for which an exemption appointment may be made and shall limit exemption appointments to those positions that fulfill a critical role in the areas of:
(1) health;
(2) safety; or
(3) generation of revenues for the state.
B. Exemption appointments shall not be made for positions that are administrative or clerical, unless the appointment is made to fill an existing position that was vacated within ninety days prior to the appointment.
C. Positions that are funded solely with federal funding are eligible for exemption appointments regardless of whether those positions fulfill a critical role.
D. An employee shall not be transferred from an exemption appointment position to another position during the hiring freeze unless the transfer is critical to health, safety or state-revenue-generation activities.
E. A written determination of the basis for an exemption appointment and for the selection of a particular candidate for a position shall be included in that particular candidate's personnel file.
F. No agency shall receive a blanket exception to a hiring freeze permitting it to make exemption appointments in that agency for all positions in a technical occupation group, or for all positions within that agency.
G. An agency shall promulgate rules specifying the conditions and procedures under which an exemption appointment may be requested to fill a position in that agency.
H. An exemption appointment by an agency shall be made:
(1) in compliance with the rules that the board has promulgated pursuant to Subsection A of this section;
(2) in compliance with the procedures set forth by the agency's rules; and
(3) pursuant to the Personnel Act.
Section 4. [NEW MATERIAL] PROCEDURES FOR EMERGENCY RULEMAKING FOR EXEMPTION APPOINTMENTS.--
A. In accordance with Section 3 of the Freeze Means Freeze Act, the board shall immediately adopt and promulgate emergency rules according to which exemption appointments may be made.
B. The board shall specify such restrictions and safeguards as it deems proper and shall specify for the critical role of positions eligible for exemption appointments, provided that these restrictions and safeguards comply with the provisions of the Freeze Means Freeze Act.
C. Emergency rules shall be transmitted to the state auditor for the state auditor's approval.
D. Upon approval by the state auditor, emergency rules may be adopted and promulgated without the notice and hearing required of other rules and shall take effect immediately. If the board contemplates that an emergency rule will be in effect for longer than ninety days, the board shall give notice and hold a hearing to adopt the emergency rule as a rule.
Section 5. A new section of the Personnel Act is enacted to read:
"[NEW MATERIAL] PUBLICATION OF STATE PERSONNEL CLASSIFICATIONS.--The board shall publish all personnel position classifications, including at a minimum each position's classification number and the qualifications for each position, in the New Mexico Administrative Code."
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