SENATE DOCKET, NO. 617        FILED ON: 1/18/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1436

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Michael O. Moore

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to the civil service assessment of environmental police officers.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 617        FILED ON: 1/18/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1436

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

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An Act relative to the civil service assessment of environmental police officers.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Section 1. Section 48 of chapter 31 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting, in line 26, after the words “police department” the following:- “; the office of law enforcement under the executive office of energy and environmental affairs”

Section2. Chapter 31 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding, at the end thereof, the following new sections:-

“Section 78. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, environmental police officers shall be subject to the same civil service examination requirements as municipal police and firefighters, the Massachusetts bay transportation authority police, and the Massachusetts State Police

Section79. No person shall be ineligible for appointment and no person shall be denied employment as an environmental police officer because of failure to attain a minimum height unless the administrator, in response to the written request of the appointing authority that no person under a specified height be certified for appointment to such position in said force, has established a minimum height requirement for the position. Such request shall include the findings of a validation study demonstrating the necessity for a minimum height for said position in said force, and such other evidence as the administrator may require.

A person shall be ineligible to become an applicant for an examination for original appointment to the position of environmental police officer if he will not have reached his twenty-first birthday on or before the final date for the filing of applications for such examination, as stated in the examination notice.

As a prerequisite to appointment to the position of environmental police officer, a person shall have graduated from high school, or received a high school graduation equivalency certificate from the department of education, and either:

(1) have at least two years of full-time, or equivalent part-time, professional or para-professional experience in wildlife or fisheries conservation or management, criminal justice, natural resources conservation or management, biological or environmental science, forestry, ecology, marine science, conservation law enforcement or related field, or

(2) any equivalent combination of such experience and a degree in environmental science, biology, oceanography, ecology, natural resource management, wildlife management, fisheries management, forestry, conservation law enforcement, criminal justice or related field whereas an associate’s degree may be substituted for one year of the required experience and a bachelor’s degree or higher may be substituted for two years’ experience on the basis of two years of education for one year of experience.

Section 80. Original and promotional appointments of environmental police officers shall be made only after competitive examination, unless expressly exempted in section 10A of chapter 21A of the general laws.

An examination for a promotional appointment for any title in any such force shall be open only to permanent employees in the next lower title in such force, except that if the number of such employees, or the number of applicants for the examination, or the number of applicants presenting themselves for examination is less than four, the examination shall be opened to permanent employees in the next lower titles in succession in such force until either four such employees have applied and presented themselves for examination or until the examination is open to all permanent employees in lower titles in such force; provided, that no such examination shall be open to any person who has not been employed as a permanent employee for at least three years in such force in the lower title or titles to which the examination is open, and provided, further, that no such examination for the first title above the lowest title in such force shall be open to any person who has not been employed as a permanent employee in such force for at least three years in such lowest title.

All promotional appointments to fill positions in such forces shall be made on a full-time basis. No such promotional appointments shall be made on a permanent intermittent basis.

An eligible list established as a result of any examination shall not be used for an original or promotional appointment to any position in any force pursuant to this section unless the announcement of such examination identified such position as one to be filled from such list.

Following his original appointment as a permanent full-time police officer in the Massachusetts environmental police, a person shall actually perform the duties of such position on a full-time basis for a probationary period of twelve months before he shall be considered a full-time tenured employee in such position. The administrator, with the approval of the commission, may establish procedures to ensure the evaluation by appointing authorities, prior to the end of such probationary period, of the performance of persons appointed as police officers in such force.