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2001 Legislative Session: 2nd Session, 37th Parliament

FIRST READING

The following electronic version is for informational

purposes only.

The printed version remains the official version.

HONOURABLE SANDY SANTORI

MINISTER OF MANAGEMENT SERVICES

BILL 10 – 2001

PUBLIC SERVICE (MERIT EMPLOYMENT COMMISSIONER) AMENDMENT ACT, 2001

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Section 1 of the Public Service Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 385, is amended by adding the following definition:

"merit commissioner" means the commissioner in his or her capacity as the Merit Commissioner referred to in

section 5 (2).

Section 5 (2) is repealed and the following substituted:

(2) The Lieutenant Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly, must appoint an individual to be the commissioner and deputy minister responsible for the commission and to hold office as the Merit Commissioner under this Act.

(2.1) The Legislative Assembly must not recommend an individual to be appointed under subsection (2) unless a special committee of the Legislative Assembly has unanimously recommended to the Legislative Assembly that the individual be appointed.

(2.2) The individual appointed under subsection (2) is to be appointed for a term of 3 years and may be reappointed in the manner provided in this

section for further 3 year terms.

(2.3) The individual who, immediately before this subsection comes into force, is the commissioner and deputy minister responsible for the commission continues in office in both capacities until the date on which a successor is appointed under subsection (2), and, until that date, also holds office as the merit commissioner.

3 The following sections are added:

Merit commissioner

5.1

(1) The merit commissioner is responsible for monitoring the application of the merit principle under this Act by

(

a) conducting random audits of appointments to and from within the public service to assess whether

(

i) the recruitment and selection processes were properly applied to result in appointments based on merit, and

(ii) the individuals when appointed possessed the required qualifications for the positions to which they were appointed, and

(

b) reporting the audit results to the deputy ministers or other persons having overall responsibility for the ministries, boards, commissions, agencies or organizations, as the case may be, in which the appointments were made.

(2) In carrying out his or her responsibilities as merit commissioner under this

section he or she must not conduct audits or issue reports in respect of the period before June 5, 2001.

Annual report of merit commissioner

5.2

(1) The merit commissioner must report annually, no later than May 31, to the Legislative Assembly concerning the merit commissioner's activities under this Act since the last report was made under this section.

(2) The Speaker must lay each annual report before the Legislative Assembly as soon as practicable, if it is in session.

(3) If the Legislative Assembly is not in session on the date of the annual report, or within 10 days after that date, the annual report must be promptly filed with the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.

(4) The report of the merit commissioner under this

section must not disclose

(

a) personal information, as defined in

Schedule 1 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, relating to individuals who applied for or were appointed to positions in the public service, or

(

b) the identity of persons who participated on behalf of the ministries, boards, commissions, agencies or organizations, as the case may be, in the selection of the individuals appointed to positions in the public service.

Section 6 (

b) is repealed and the following substituted:

(

b) with respect to employees of a ministry or a board, commission, agency or organization to which this Act applies, delegate any of his or her powers, duties or functions under this Act or the regulations, other than as the merit commissioner, to

(

i) a deputy minister or other employee of the ministry, or

(ii) a member, officer or employee of the board, commission, agency or organization, .

Section 7 is repealed and the following substituted:

Access to facilities and records

7 For the purposes of carrying out his or her duties as commissioner and merit commissioner, the commissioner is entitled to access to

(

a) ministries,

(

b) boards, commissions, agencies and organizations that are declared to be subject to this

section under

section 3, and

(

c) records, of ministries or of those boards, commissions, agencies and organizations, containing information pertinent to those duties or to personnel matters.

Section 12 (3) is repealed and the following substituted:

(3) Sections 5.1, 8 and 18 do not apply to appointments under this section.

Explanatory Notes

SECTION 1: [Public Service Act, amends

section 1] defines "merit commissioner".

SECTION 2: [Public Service Act, amends

section 5]

requires a unanimous recommendation of a special committee of the Legislative Assembly as a condition precedent to the appointment by the Lieutenant Governor in Council of the commissioner and deputy minister responsible for the Public Service Employee Relations Commission;

provides explicitly that the individual who holds office as the commissioner responsible for the commission will hold office also as the Merit Commissioner;

provides for continuation in office of the present commissioner and deputy minister responsible for the commission during the transition period until the first appointment is made under

section 5 of the Act as amended by this Bill.

SECTION 3: [Public Service Act, enacts sections 5.1 and 5.2]

sets out the Merit Commissioner's responsibilities;

requires the Merit Commissioner to report annually to the Legislative Assembly;

provides for privacy for personal information in the Merit Commissioner's annual report to the Legislative Assembly.

SECTION 4: [Public Service Act, repeals and replaces

section 6 (b)] recasts

section 6 (

b) and provides that the commissioner's responsibilities as Merit Commissioner

may not be delegated to deputy ministers and others in the ministries and other

organizations to which the Public Service Employee Relations Commission

provides services.

SECTION 5: [Public Service Act, re-enacts

section 7] recasts

section 7 for clarity and to add

the reference to "merit commissioner".

SECTION 6: [Public Service Act, repeals and replaces

section 12 (3)] adds the reference to

section 5.1 enacted by

section 3 of this Bill.

Copyright (c) 2001: Queen's Printer, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada