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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session
AMENDED
state agencies; hiring practices; appeals
Purpose
Background
The Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) is responsible for administering the State Personnel System. ADOA must adopt personnel and personnel administration rules for both covered and uncovered employees, including for the establishment and maintenance of classification and compensation plans and the recruitment, selection and appointment process of eligible applicants (A.R.S. §§ 41-741 and 41-743). ADOA groups positions into classes based on similarities of duties and responsibilities. Class specifications contain a statement of the minimum education, experience, competencies and other qualifications required to perform the work. An agency head must ensure that any candidate selected for hire meets the established qualifications for the position filled (A.A.C. R2-5A-201 and R2-5A-304).
The Board is charged with hearing and reviewing, through an informal administrative process, appeals relating to the dismissal of a covered state employee from covered state service, suspension for more than 80 working hours or involuntary demotion resulting from disciplinary action. The Board is also charged with hearing and reviewing whistleblower complaints relating to any personnel action taken against a state employee or former state employee which is believed to have been taken in reprisal for the employee's or former employee's disclosure of information to the public (A.R.S. Title 38, Chapter 3, Article 9) and (A.R.S. Title 41, Chapter 4, Article 6).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires each state agency to adopt a standardized hiring process for all employee positions.
2. Require the standardized hiring process to include the following grading components:
a) weighted grade;
b) interview panel grade; and
c) overall grade.
3. Directs a state agency, for the calculation of the candidate's weighted grade, to take into account:
a) the length and relevance of the candidate's experience and education; and
b) any specific skills and certifications the candidate possesses.
4. Requires an additional numeric score or grade to be assigned to each candidate who participates in a formal interview.
5. Requires a panel consisting of at least two interviewers to conduct the interview.
6. Requires the scoring criteria for the interview to be published in the job posting.
7. Requires the weighted grade and the interview panel grade to be combined to produce a final, overall grade out of 100 for each candidate.
8. Requires the method for combining the grades to be transparent and published in the job posting.
9. Requires the State of Arizona and each agency to complete the entire hiring process, from the initial job posting to the selection of the final candidate, within 90 days.
10. Requires the Board, if the hiring process exceeds 90 days, to intervene to ensure the completion of the hiring process and the selection of a final candidate.
11. Requires a state agency to provide written notice to each candidate who is eliminated from hiring consideration.
12. Requires the notice to identify the reason the candidate did not meet the requirements for the job posting.
13. Allows any candidate who participated in both the weighted grade and interview panel grade and who was not hired by a state agency to appeal a hiring decision to the Board if the appeal:
a) is made within three business days after the final hiring decision announcement; and
b) is based on a claim that the hiring process for all positions was not followed, or the state agency's hiring of another candidate was arbitrary, given the hired candidate's overall grade, or that the process exceeded 90 days.
14. Requires the Board to review the grades and documentation of both the appealing candidate and the selected candidate to determine whether the hiring decision was in violation of the standardized hiring process.
15. Allows the Board to direct the hiring agency to reconsider the decision or take any other appropriate action, including appointing a hearing officer to conduct an administrative review, if a violation of the standardized hiring process is found.
16. Allows the Board to require a state agency to:
a) reopen the hiring process;
b) modify the job posting; or
c) take any other actions as necessary to comply with the standardized hiring process.
17. Allows any candidate to be directly hired by a state agency if the candidate meets a minimum weighted numeric grade of 90.
18. Requires the direct hiring decision and specific position filled to be announced through the state agency's official website.
19. Allows any candidate, whether internal or external, to appeal the direct hire.
20. States that the standardized hiring process does not apply to:
a) the Governor's Office; and
b) any members of a board or commission appointed by the Governor.
21. Designates this legislation as the State Agency Hiring Reform Act.
22. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by Committee
· Makes technical changes.
Senate Action
RAGE 2/11/26 DPA 4-1-2
Prepared by Senate Research
February 11, 2026
JT/NRG/ci