Relates to reporting the commission's findings to the governor and the legislature

(k) (1) shall, on or before April first, two thousand seven, report to the governor and the legislature its findings, conclusions and recommendations,

(2) shall, on or before May first, two thousand sixteen, report to the governor and the legislature on the status of and any actions taken on the recommendations made pursuant to subparagraph one of this paragraph (k-1), and

(3) shall, on or before December thirty-first. Two thousand seventeen, report to the governor and the legislature on the status of and any actions taken on the recommendations made pursuant to subparagraph one of this paragraph, and which actions have and have not been taken to provide for diversity in the state government workforce.

Justification

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 State government. This is one of 7 proposals put forward by task force to address the problems.

In 2006, legislation was signed into law creating the Commission on Increasing Diversity in the State Government Workforce. The Commission was mandated to produce three reports to detail findings of problems, outline possible solutions and recommendations and subsequent reports were to examine of the proposals and recommendations for improvements were acted upon by the Executive branch and the Department of Civil Service.

After the initial commission report, there was a change in governors in New York and the new appointees needed to continue the work of the commission were never selected by the Executive. This created the inability for the Commission to carry out its mandated duties as required by law and the two other reports it was to complete were never developed.

The first report was instrumental in highlighting the obstacles in diversifying the state government workforce and led to the creation of the Chief Diversity Officer in the Executive Chamber. This legislation intends to ensure that the 2006 Law is followed through and the Commission completes its work by having the Governor name his appointees, name the chair and convene the Commission. It is the law and it should be adhered too.

*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 population 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 8,836 jobs lost by this group represent a 26.7% decline in the African-American state workforce. This reduction came during a period when the African-American population in New York grew by 13.1%.

*For African-Americans, the loss of the 8,836 jobs at the average state salary of $53,000 translates into a loss of over $468 million dollars in annual salaries. For Hispanics their under-representation translates into a loss of over $860 million in annual salaries.

Prior legislative history

New legislation. Priority Legislation for the Assembly PR/H Task Force

Fiscal implications for state and local government

NONE

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.