Tennessee passes CAP leave law

[DrJbdm]

River, yes it is easy to say Civil Air Patrol, but bottom line is I do not want to say Civil Air Patrol. CAP has a bad or a negative image in many circles, we all know of the problems that CAP has with its image. I would never get anything passed if I identified it as CAP. It's broader in scope and sounds more official to have it read U.S. Air Force Aux. I only managed to get those articles passed thru the general union membership by having it written as it is. Those guys I work with view CAP has a youth organization and not as a military unit. Youth organizations do not receive orders from the Air Force for operational missions. Identifying ourselves as the U.S. Air Force Aux. does that, people then have a much easier time grasping that we do operational Air Force missions. My goal isn't to use this to recruit anybody; therefore I could care little for having to explain what CAP is and what we do. I think CAP should cling tightly to the U.S. Air Force Aux title, we would get much more mileage then with just going with CAP.

[RiverAux]

If we were starting over today, we probably would be the Air Force Auxiliary, and probably we SHOULD be called the AF Auxiliary.  But, we are the Civil Air Patrol and probably will continue to be for the forseeable future. 

You're plain wrong on the facts though on CAP having a bad reputation overall.  The only actual data out there (CAP NHQ survey info in recent public affairs presentation) pretty convincingly shows that those that have heard of CAP, have a good impression of CAP.  So, its not an automatic loser to use CAP. 

[RiverAux]

Illinois passes leave law: http://www.cap.gov/visitors/news/cap_news_online/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&nodeID=6192&newsID=4492&year=2008&month=7

[dogboy]

I wanted to share some good news from the great State of Tennessee.  For the past few months, a bill has been making its way through the Tennessee General Assembly that would grant 15 workdays of leave per year to any state employee "who participates in a training program for the Civil Air Patrol, or in emergency and disaster services."  The law passed both houses of the General Assembly unanimously and was signed into law by Governor Phil Bredesen yesterday. 

Here's the relevant California Government Code Section which authorizes 10 days per year. Note that almost all State employees have collective bargaining agreements which may grant different rights than those in the Code. Also, it only covers activities with an State OES mission number. An ordinary ELT search is not assigned an OES number.

19844.5.  (a) A state employee who is called into service by the
Office of Emergency Services pursuant to a mission assignment number
for the purpose of engaging in a search and rescue operation,
disaster mission, or other life-saving mission conducted within the
state is  entitled to administrative time off from his or her
appointing power.  The appointing power shall not be liable for
payment of any disability or death benefits in the event the employee
is injured or killed in the course of service to the Office of
Emergency Services, but the employee shall remain entitled to any
benefits currently provided by the office.
   (b) The period of the duty described in subdivision (a) shall not
exceed 10 calendar days per fiscal year, including the time involved
in going to and returning from the duty.  A single mission shall not
exceed three days, unless an extension of time is granted by the
office and the appointing power.
   (c) This section shall apply only to volunteers participating in
the California Explorer Search and Rescue Team, Drowning Accident
Rescue Team, Wilderness Organization of Finders, California Rescue
Dog Association, and the California Wing of the Civil Air Patrol.
   (d) A state employee engaging in a duty as described in this
section shall not receive overtime compensation for the hours of time
off taken but shall receive normal compensation.
   (e) A state employee shall be released to engage in a duty
described in this section at the discretion of the appointing power.
However, leave shall not be unreasonably denied.  The appointing
power shall also establish a procedure whereby state employees who
receive weekend or evening requests to serve may be released to do
so.