OCAA Members,
As we continue to move forward this year and with our new contract your OCAA Executive Board continues to fight for you and work with the County. In this update, we cover changes to OC Meter, Executive Board Elections, and proposed changes to the OCAA PAC.
OC Meter just recently added Student Loan Payment expense type for both “Authorization Requests” and “Expense Reports.” This means as law school student loan payments restart this month, you will be able to show your proof of payments and request reimbursements through the EPRP program through OC Meter.
If you have not taken the OC Meter course on the EPRP process, we have attached their courses handout here: OC METER EPRP – Creating EPRP Requests and Expense Reports
OCAA Executive Board Elections
It is time to begin the nomination and election process for the 2024 OCAA Board of Directors.
OCAA is seeking candidates to submit Nomination Petitions for the 2024 OCAA Board of Directors. Board members serve a three-year term/commitment. Those nominated and the two nominators, whose names/departments will be included on the Nomination Form must be OCAA members in good standing. To have the nominee’s name placed on the upcoming ballot, the completed nomination form must be received (via hand delivery/USPS to the OCAA Office, or via e-mail ocaa@ocaa.net) or not later than 5:00pm on Tuesday, October 10, 2023. The form also includes the names of those Board members whose terms of office are ending and the Departments where they work. Attorneys are encouraged to consider nominations for this important role.
The online election will begin on October 24th and run through October 31st.
So that this process may be handled electronically, nominators (whose names are to be included on the Nomination Form) are to send an e-mail to ocaa@ocaa.net to validate the nomination.
The following seats on the OCAA Executive Board are up for election:
Alternate Defender – 1 seat, currently held by Ben Russell
Child Support Services – 1 seat, currently held by Joshua Lee
District Attorney – 2 seats, currently held by Vincent Marinaccio, and Mallory Miller
Public Defender – 2 seats, currently held by Josh Doddridge, and Annie Rodriguez
The “NOMINATION FOR 2024 OCAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS” form can be found here: OCAA 2024 Executive Board Nomination Form
OCAA PAC Update
The Orange County Attorneys Association – Political Action Committee (OCAA – PAC) was established to give the Association and its membership a voice in the political affairs of the county. The PAC is the political arm of the Orange County Attorneys Association.
The mission of the PAC is to support, promote and elect candidates for state, county and/or local office who are sympathetic to the Association’s goals. The PAC is non-partisan; endorsements are not made on the basis of party affiliation but on the basis of a candidate’s record, political philosophy and pledge of future action.
The Executive Board is considering voting to amend the division of due funds so that we can better fund the OCAA Pac and better fight for you. The Executive Board feels the proposed allocation of dues funds is necessary to build PAC funding for future elections.
We cannot simply just move money from our general fund to the PAC because doing so would result in over a 20% tax on those funds. PAC funds are only used on elections which benefit the entire membership by supporting candidates who are sympathetic and supportive of the Association’s goals. The OCAA PAC does not make financial contributions to any judicial campaign.
The proposed amendment will not increase your dues, it merely reallocates where current dues money goes. While this action may be taken by a vote of the Executive Board, in our continued push to be fully transparent we wanted to share with you the proposal. If you have any comments, concerns, or questions on the proposed change allocation of dues please email OCAAPAC@ocaa.net.
Currently each OCAA member who contributes to the OCAA PAC contributes $3 of their dues per paycheck, and the rest of their dues are placed in the general fund. Based on the need to keep a well maintained and funded OCAA PAC this proposal seeks to change distribution of dues to the following: For OCAA members who contribute to the OCAA PAC, that 40% of their dues per paycheck go to the OCAA PAC and 60% of their dues to the OCAA General fund. For members who do not contribute to the PAC, 100% of their dues go to the OCAA General Fund. To take effect during the first full pay period after approval by the Executive Board.
DID YOU KNOW ?
OCAA Special Offers:
OCAA has numerous special offers HERE. These offers include
- $5.00 movie tickets,
- Local and national theme parks and attraction discounted tickets,
- LEGOLAND California Resort offers,
- San Diego Zoo tickets, and
- Sea World tickets
Make sure you take advantage of these benefits as well as additional insurance benefits available during open enrollment. If you have any questions email OCAA@ocaa.net
Use Your Time!
Finally, as a continued reminder please remember the following codes on your timecard reset at the end of the fiscal year.
- Attorney Unit Leave aka Snivel, formerly Attorney Leave with Pay. 24 hours a year available to Attorney III who are not on probationary status and Attorney IV and higher who were required to work hours substantially above the norm for an extended period of time (Pages ATT- 26-27 of MOU).
- Personal Business Leave Elapsed aka PBL, 40 hours a year which is taken out of your available sick leave which can be used for any purpose. You must have the necessary hours available in your sick leave to use this time. (Page ATT- 21 of MOU).
- School Conferences and Events (Parent Child School Leave Elapse) a parent, legal guardian, or grandparent who has custody of child enrolled in a California public or private school, kindergarten through grade 12, or in a licensed day care facility, may use up to 10 hours of PTOs to attend school conferences and events. Any activity that is sponsored, supervised, or approved by the school, school board, or child care facility is acceptable. (Page ATT- 22 of MOU)
- Leave for Attendance at Professional Conferences an employee may request three (3) days (24 hours) Leave with pay each fiscal year for attendance at professional conferences subject to the following conditions: (1) a request made in advance in the manner prescribed by the department; (2) the conference is job related; (3) Costs connected with the conference attendance, including registration, meals, transportation and/or lodging if any, are not provided under Article IV Section 13 of the MOU; and (4) the employee’s performance is standard or above. There are limits to this provision which are found in the MOU. (Pages ATT- 31 – 32).
- Vacation Payout (discretionary payout of either two separate increments of 60 hours each or a single payout of 120 hours from your vacation bank. As a reminder your vacation caps out at 480 hours. After 480 hours you stop accruing vacation time (Pages ATT- 36 – 37 of MOU).
For you convenience our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) can be found here: OCAA MOU