19775.4. Except as provided in Section 19781, a person in recognized military service whose name was high enough on an employment list to be available for certification for possible permanent appointment to a position while he or she was in the armed forces of the United States shall retain his or her place on the list for three years following the date of his or her release from military service or until six months after the termination of the state military emergency, whichever is the earlier, provided, that a name shall not be retained on a list for longer than eight years after the list is established. The name of a person whose eligibility is retained under the provisions of this section beyond the time other names are removed from a list pursuant to Section 18901 shall be certified ahead of the names of persons on more recently prepared lists, except that the name shall be removed from the list if he or she refuses or has refused to accept appointment to a permanent position after certification thereto subsequent to his or her release from the armed forces.Notwithstanding Section 19770, this section shall also be applicable to persons who are not civil service employees and

er certification thereto subsequent to his or her release from the armed forces.Notwithstanding Section 19770, this section shall also be applicable to persons who are not civil service employees and were on active military duty because of the Iraq-Kuwait crisis.(Amended by Stats. 1991, Ch. 98, Sec. 3. Effective July 1, 1991.)