California Highway Patrol officers approve contract, securing three more years of raises
Members of the California Association of Highway Patrolmen approved a proposed contract with the state on Friday, according to the preliminary results from the union, that will cost the state over $489 million over a three-year timeline.
With 38% eligible members voting, the contract was approved by 98% of voters, CAHP announced Friday evening. Of the union’s nearly 6,000 eligible members, 2,218 people cast a vote during the ratification period.
The contract extension comes with a 4% raise for all members and targeted increases in pay for some California Highway Patrol officers. CAHP President Jake Johnson said these provisions would help address vacancy rates that have grown in recent years.
Between 2015 and 2023, the vacancy rate in the officers’ union grew by 94%, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, outpacing the statewide vacancy rates. As of last December, one in six positions in Johnson’s unit was unfilled.
“We have a retention problem,” Johnson told The Sacramento Bee. “We have close to 1,000 positions that are probably still open, and though we’re hiring at a rapid rate, we’re just not able to keep up with people who are eligible to retire.”
Seniority payments secured in the new contract would provide officers with 27 and 28 years of experience would respectively earn 10% and 12% more than base salary, expanding already established longevity pay. The state estimated the benefit, which would apply to 180 rank-and-file employees and 80 non-union employees, would cost about $2.2 million. Johnson said this provision was crucial to retain members with institutional knowledge who can help train less experienced officers.
In recent years, CHP officers have netted substantial raises, 6.2% in 2022 and 7.9% in 2023.
The significant increases stem from a 50-year-old statute that determines CHP salaries based on wages of law enforcement officers working in five local jurisdictions: the city and county of San Francisco; Los Angeles County; and the cities of Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Diego. Those localities also happen to be some of the most expensive in the state, though the majority of CHP officers work in other, less-expensive areas of California, the LAO reported.
The salary structure is unique. The Legislature has little control over officers’ salaries, which are effectively determined by the five local governments. Additionally, CHP officers are the only civil servants who automatically receive salary adjustments every year, the LAO reported.
The LAO analysis of the proposed agreement highlighted several issues with the current adjustment structure: The yearly salary increases inflate other state costs such as pension benefits and overtime; the formula makes it difficult for the state to forecast costs; and recruitment and retention trends are not tied directly to officers’ salaries, or where they live and work in the state.
Citing these reasons, the LAO recommended changing or repealing the formula.
CHP officers’ salaries have outpaced inflation and the wages of other state peace officers, according to the LAO. Without the yearly increases, that may not have been the case, the LAO speculated.
Johnson said his unit has outpaced others because of the nature of CHP’s officers’ work.
“We get compensated for what we’re expected to do that those other [units] aren’t,” Johnson said. “We have 242 highway patrolmen who have been killed in the line of duty. And I’m not talking about sickness, COVID, I’m talking about being shot, killed, helicopter crashes, drownings, all those things.”
The LAO report also noted how men are overwhelmingly more likely to be CHP officers than women. Officers are also more likely to be white than other state workers. LAO noted these gender and racial disparities in the context of CHP officers’ higher salaries compared to those of other peace officers.
The state found in 2021 that women employed by the state earn 14.5% less than male state workers because the jobs with higher levels of compensation tend to be filled by men.
Additional provisions in the contract include increases in bilingual, investigator, motorcycle and Officer In Charge pay.
Johnson said a less high-profile, but significant win in the contract is a $200 reimbursement for members to purchase an external vest carrier. These vests, which Johnson estimated cost $500, are used to hold officers’ equipment while on patrol in lieu of everything being strapped to a belt.
“I believe going forward, we’re going to see CHP officers with less workers comp claims, which costs the state millions,” Johnson said.
This story was originally published September 6, 2024 at 5:11 PM with the headline "California Highway Patrol officers approve contract, securing three more years of raises."
