Committee reviews draft to create hiring preference for military spouses in state jobs
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Summary
The committee reviewed draft language that would add active-duty military spouses to existing state hiring preferences and award five extra points on competitive exams where used, while noting collective-bargaining rules still take precedence and that competitive exams are primarily used for sworn law enforcement roles.
The Government Operations & Military Affairs committee reviewed draft statutory language to give spouses of personnel currently serving in the U.S. armed forces a hiring preference for state employment.
Counsel Sophie Soudatny, representing the Office of Legislative Council, told the committee the proposal has two parts: after requirements of any applicable collective-bargaining agreement and after compliance with an existing subsection referenced in the draft, the state would make a “diligent effort to recruit, interview, and hire” from a list of preferences that currently includes veterans and spouses of veterans and would be expanded to add spouses of active-duty service members. She also said, “to the extent there are competitive examinations … the spouses of personnel currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces would receive an additional 5 points on a competitive examination that they have passed.”
Committee members stressed that any statutory preference would apply only after collective-bargaining and internal hiring rules are satisfied. Counsel reiterated the language is intended to be consistent with affirmative-action standards and with whatever a collective-bargaining agreement requires.
Soudatny said she had consulted a Department of Human Resources official while drafting the language to ask how widely state competitive examinations are used and reported that the official identified sworn law enforcement positions as the primary current users of point-based exam systems; the transcript records inconsistent spellings of that contact’s name.
Representative Coffin compared federal and state practices, saying, “the federal government, they use a qualification skill sheet questionnaire,” and noted many point systems score qualifications on a grid where extra points would apply. Sponsors of the draft emphasized the bill’s two-pronged approach is meant to cover hiring pathways beyond the narrow cases where point-based exams are presently used.
Committee leadership asked members to consider additional witnesses and agency staff for future testimony and said the draft measure will be considered as a component of an omnibus military and veterans affairs bill the committee is developing.
No formal motion or vote on the draft was recorded during this discussion. The committee concluded the review and left the draft open for further refinement and input from DHR and affected stakeholders.