Opinion ID: 1224847
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Civil Service Mandate

Text: Article VII, like its predecessor, former article XXIV of the state Constitution, defines the state civil service as including every officer and employee of the state, with exceptions not pertinent here. (Art. VII, ง 1, subd. (a); see Cal. Const., former art. XXIV, ง 4, subd. (a).) The article further provides that [i]n the civil service permanent appointment and promotion shall be made under a general system based on merit ascertained by competitive examination. (Art. VII, ง 1, subd. (b); see Cal. Const., former art. XXIV, ง 1.) Article VII also creates the State Personnel Board (ง 2), to which enforcement and administration of the civil service laws are delegated (ง 3), and exempts from the civil service certain positions that are not pertinent here (ง 4). The state Civil Service Act (Gov. Code, ง 18500 et seq.) [1] implements article VII. (See California State Employees' Assn. v. Williams (1970) 7 Cal. App.3d 390, 394-395 [86 Cal. Rptr. 305] ( Williams ).) The ballot argument to the voters at the time California Constitution, former article XXIV was adopted in 1934 stressed the purpose of the civil service provision was `to promote efficiency and economy' in state government by `prohibit[ing] appointments and promotion in the service except on the basis of merit, efficiency, and fitness ascertained by competitive examination....' ( Riley, supra, 9 Cal.2d at p. 134.) Other than the general civil service provisions previously described, neither present article VII nor former article XXIV expressly prohibits or restricts private contracting. As one appellate decision has observed, Decisional law interprets article VII as a restriction on the `contracting out' of state activities or tasks to the private sector. [Citations.] The restriction does not arise from the express language of article VII. [Citation.] `Rather, it emanates from an implicit necessity for protecting the policy of the organic civil service mandate against dissolution and destruction.' [Citation.] ( CSEA, supra, 199 Cal. App.3d at p. 844.)