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Bill to streamline appeals to State Civil Service Appeals Board wins support at hearing
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Summary
Representative Sue Salisbury presented LD 2180 to let non‑attorneys represent the State before the State Civil Service Appeals Board, simplify appeal steps, and repeal an employee suggestion program. The Bureau of Human Resources and the CSAB chair testified in support, saying the changes reduce jurisdictional errors and administrative burdens.
Representative Sue Salisbury presented LD 2180 to the Joint Standing Committee on State and Local Government on Feb. 18. The bill, submitted on behalf of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, contains three parts: Part A would add an exemption to the unauthorized‑practice‑of‑law statute to allow non‑attorneys to represent the State before the State Civil Service Appeals Board (CSAB); Part B would shorten and clarify the steps an aggrieved state employee must take before appealing to the CSAB; Part C would repeal the employee suggestion program that the department says has become administratively burdensome.
Margaret Eddy, legislative and policy analyst with the Bureau of Human Resources, told the committee that Part A aligns the CSAB with many other administrative processes in state law that already permit non‑attorneys to represent agencies before administrative boards. “This will give the department more freedom to assign work to the appropriate experts and provide us greater flexibility for potential future hires,” Eddy said.
Susan Herman, chair of the CSAB, said Part B responds to practical problems the board has faced and would reduce jurisdictional confusion. Under current law, an employee must take four separate steps before the CSAB can hear an appeal; LD 2180 would reduce that requirement to two steps and make the time frame uniform at 21 days, which Herman said would reduce missed‑deadline jurisdictional dismissals.
Part C would repeal a long‑running employee suggestion program that provided small cash or honorary awards. Bureau testimony said that since 2009 the program yielded about 73 suggestions and only 4 made it through the vetting process; administrators said the program has become costly to administer relative to results.
Committee members asked for clarifications about union positions and detailed procedural language; Kristen Bishop (committee analyst) noted the CSAB only handles employees excluded from collective bargaining. No vote was taken; the bill record shows departmental staff present to respond in later work sessions.
