A bill that would streamline and reform many aspects of the state’s civil service system was given its first public hearing in the Senate Tuesday, drawing the ire of the state’s public sector unions.
The proposal, authored by state Sen. Roger Roth, R-Appleton, and state Rep. Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, would change how most state employees are hired by instituting a résumé-based system, doing away with civil service exams and setting clearer standards for what offenses are fireable.
Roth told the Senate Committee on Labor and Government Reform that his bill is a way of modernizing the century-old system and maintained it would not “lead us back to the days of political patronage.”
“This is an opportunity recognizing the next decade in our state workforce we're going to see a lot of turnover," Roth said. "This is a chance for us to be proactive."
Officials from Gov. Scott Walker’s administration testified in support of the bill, with Department of Financial Institutions Secretary Ray Allen saying the measure is necessary to streamline certain aspects of the civil service system.
“Simply put, certain key portions of the current civil service system are woefully outdated,” Allen said. “They need to be modernized so that our state agencies are able to attract and retain the best and brightest employees.”
State Sens. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, and Robert Wirch, D-Kenosha, pushed Allen on whether the résumé-based system could create political favoritism, with committee chair Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, at one point chiding Larson to “be quiet” to allow Allen to respond.
Allen said that he believed job seekers with political connections would be under more scrutiny than other applicants. However, Larson said earlier in the hearing that he has doubts the bill will protect against corruption.
"I'm not seeing protections that are going to prevent wholesale cronyism," Larson said.
Labor leaders also blasted the bill, saying that attacks on state employees, such as the 2011 Act 10 measure that barred collective bargaining diminish civil service quality, rather than outdated practices.
“The reason we aren’t getting the best and brightest isn’t the [civil service ] exams,” said Paul Shirk, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 32. “The reason is that public employees have been treated worse and paid less.”
The committee is scheduled to vote on the bill next Tuesday.
