Governor signs bill overhauling Wisconsin civil service laws

http://news.yahoo.com/governor-signs-bill-overhauling-wisconsin-civil-laws-221011246.html

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker signed a sweeping bill Friday that reworks Wisconsin's hiring and firing practices, brushing aside Democrats' complaints that the measure will lead to cronyism in state agencies.

The Republican-backed legislation dramatically rewrites the state's 110-year-old civil service system by eliminating job applicant exams, centralizing hiring decisions within the governor's administration and tossing so-called bumping rights, which protect more senior employees from losing their jobs during layoffs.

The new law also creates merit bonuses, allows state agencies to extend probation periods from the current six months to two years and specifies that layoffs will be based on job performance rather than seniority. The changes, most of which will take effect July 1, are expected to affect about 30,000 state workers.

"The legislation we are signing here today implements common-sense reforms to our recruitment and retention processes to get the best and brightest in the door and keep them there," Walker said in a news release after signing the bill at Manpower, an employment agency in Appleton. "These civil service reforms provide a more effective, efficient and streamlined hiring process to ensure state government operates at a good value for our citizens."

A handful of other states have also taken steps to roll back civil service protections, which are designed to keep officials from handing out government jobs as rewards to their political allies. Arizona, Tennessee and Colorado all passed legislation in 2012 scaling back those states' civil service protections.