Date of Adoption: June 13, 2002.

     Purpose: SHB 1268 gives the director of personnel exempt authority.

     Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 41.06.150.

     Under RCW 34.05.350 the agency for good cause finds that state or federal law or federal rule or a federal deadline for state receipt of federal funds requires immediate adoption of a rule.

     Reasons for this Finding: This proposal is due to the passage of the civil service reform bill (SHB 1268).

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0;      Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
     Effective Date of Rule: Immediately.

June 13, 2002

E. C. Matt, Director

Department of Personnel

     (a) The members of the legislature or to any employee of, or position in, the legislative branch of the state government including members, officers, and employees of the legislative council, joint legislative audit and review committee, statute law committee, and any interim committee of the legislature;

     (b) The justices of the supreme court, judges of the court of appeals, judges of the superior courts or of the inferior courts, or to any employee of, or position in the judicial branch of state government;

     (c) Officers, academic personnel, employees of technical colleges, and state institutions of higher education, and the state board for community and technical colleges;

     (d) The officers of the Washington state patrol;

     (e) Elective officers of the state;

     (f) The chief executive officer of each agency;

     (g) In the departments of employment security and social and health services, the director and the director's confidential secretary; in all other departments, the executive head of which is an individual appointed by the governor, the director, his or her confidential secretary, and his or her statutory assistant directors;

     (h) In the case of a multimember board, commission, or committee, whether the members thereof are elected, appointed by the governor or other authority, serve ex officio, or are otherwise chosen;

     (i) All members of such boards, commissions, or committees;

     (ii) If the members of the board, commission, or committee serve on a parttime basis and there is a statutory executive officer: The secretary of the board, commission, or committee; the chief executive officer of the board, commission, or committee; and the confidential secretary of the chief executive officer of the board, commission, or committee;

     (iii) If the members of the board, commission, or committee serve on a fulltime basis: The chief executive officer or administrative officer as designated by the board, commission, or committee; and a confidential secretary to the chair of the board, commission, or committee;

     (iv) If all members of the board, commission, or committee serve ex officio: The chief executive officer; and the confidential secretary of such chief executive officer;

     (i) The confidential secretaries and administrative assistants in the immediate offices of the executive officers of the state;

     (j) Assistant attorneys general;

     (k) Commissioned and enlisted personnel in the military service of the state;

     (l) Inmate, student, parttime, or temporary employees, and parttime professional consultants, as defined by the board;

     (i) State and local officials serving ex officio and performing incidental administrative duties in the program of the agency.

     (ii) Part-time local health officers.

     (iii) Persons employed on a part-time, or temporary basis for medical, nursing or other professional service and who are not engaged in the performance of administrative duties.

     (iv) Part-time or temporary employees who are enrolled as full-time students in recognized educational institutions and whose employment is largely to provide training opportunity, and all temporary employees not in federal grant-in-aid programs.

     (v) Patient and resident help in the covered institutions.

     (vi) Skilled and unskilled labor employed temporarily on force account; construction and maintenance projects; or employed on temporary seasonal single phases of agricultural production or harvesting; or as determined by the director of personnel to be equivalent.

     (vii) Washington state patrol trooper cadets in training for commissioning as troopers in the Washington state patrol.

     (m) The public printer or to any employees of or positions in the state printing plant;

     (n) Officers and employees of the Washington state fruit commission;

     (o) Officers and employees of the Washington state apple advertising commission;

     (p) Officers and employees of the Washington state dairy products commission;

     (q) Officers and employees of the Washington tree fruit research commission;

     (r) Officers and employees of the Washington state beef commission;

     (s) Officers and employees of any commission formed under chapter 15.66 RCW;

     (t) Officers and employees of agricultural commissions formed under chapter 15.65 RCW;

     (u) Officers and employees of the nonprofit corporation formed under chapter 67.40 RCW;

     (v) Executive assistants for personnel administration and labor relations in all state agencies employing such executive assistants including but not limited to all departments, offices, commissions, committees, boards, or other bodies subject to the provisions of this chapter and this subsection shall prevail over any provision of law inconsistent herewith unless specific exception is made in such law;

     (w) In each agency with fifty or more employees: Deputy agency heads, assistant directors or division directors, and not more than three principal policy assistants who report directly to the agency head or deputy agency heads;

     (x) All employees of the marine employees' commission;

     (y) Staff employed by the department of community, trade, and economic development to administer energy policy functions and manage energy site evaluation council activities under RCW 43.21F.045 (2)(m);

     (2) In addition to the exemptions specifically provided by this chapter, the director may provide for further exemptions pursuant to the following procedures. The governor or other appropriate elected official may submit requests for exemption to the director stating the reasons for requesting such exemptions. The director shall hold a public hearing, after proper notice, on requests submitted pursuant to this subsection. If the director determines that the position for which exemption is requested is one involving substantial responsibility for the formulation of basic agency or executive policy or one involving directing and controlling program operations of an agency or a major administrative division thereof, the director shall grant the request and such determination shall be final as to any decision made before July 1, 1993. The total number of additional exemptions permitted under this subsection shall not exceed one percent of the number of employees in the classified service not including employees of institutions of higher education and related boards for those agencies not directly under the authority of any elected public official other than the governor, and shall not exceed a total of twentyfive for all agencies under the authority of elected public officials other than the governor.

     The salary and fringe benefits of all positions presently or hereafter exempted except for the chief executive officer of each agency, fulltime members of boards and commissions, administrative assistants and confidential secretaries in the immediate office of an elected state official, and the personnel listed in subsections (1)(j) through (u) and (x) of this section, shall be determined by the director. Changes to the classification plan affecting exempt salaries must meet the same provisions for classified salary increases resulting from adjustments to the classification plan as outlined in RCW 41.06.152.

     Any person holding a classified position subject to the provisions of this chapter shall, when and if such position is subsequently exempted from the application of this chapter, be afforded the following rights: If such person previously held permanent status in another classified position, such person shall have a right of reversion to the highest class of position previously held, or to a position of similar nature and salary.

     Any classified employee having civil service status in a classified position who accepts an appointment in an exempt position shall have the right of reversion to the highest class of position previously held, or to a position of similar nature and salary.

     A person occupying an exempt position who is terminated from the position for gross misconduct or malfeasance does not have the right of reversion to a classified position as provided for in this section.

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