BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 114
Author: Yee (D)
Amended: 8/22/12
Vote: 21
SENATE VOTES NOT RELEVANT
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 68-12, 8/27/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Teachers retirement
SOURCE : California Federation of Teachers
DIGEST : This bill requires, beginning July 1, 2013, and
annually thereafter, collective bargaining or employment
agreements for community college and adult education
instructor, reflecting the full time equivalent for each
class of affected employees, be submitted electronically,
as specified, to the California State Teachers' Retirement
System (CalSTRS).
Assembly Amendments delete the Senate version of the bill
relating to community colleges, and replace it with the
above language.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires that each collective
bargaining or employment agreement for a part-time
community college instructor subject to the 525-hour
minimum standard specify the number of hours that equals
full-time. However, employers are not required to provide
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copies of collective bargaining or employment contract
agreements to CalSTRS except upon request on a case by case
basis.
Comments
The following information was submitted to the Assembly
Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee
by CalSTRS:
Community college educators employed on a part-time basis
may elect to be covered by the CalSTRS Defined Benefit
(DB) Program. Although the design of the DB Program
works well for full-time employees, a number of issues
have arisen over the years about its application to
part-time and adult education community college staff.
The most significant issue has been the difficulty in
reporting compensation in order to establish the
appropriate levels of service credit.
Part-time community college instructors accrue service
credit based on Full-Time Equivalent (FTE), equal to the
number of hours of creditable service that a part-time
community college or adult education instructor would be
required to complete if he or she was working full-time
in their position. The FTE is based on the hours of
instruction that a full-time faculty member is required
to perform in their assignment. The community college
employer compensates the part-time instructor for the
hours worked, based on an hourly pay scale. When the
district payroll office reports to CalSTRS, it reports
the actual earnings for the member and they calculate an
"earnable," which is the hourly pay rate multiplied by
the FTE.
The statutory minimum FTE for adjunct faculty of 525
hours reflects the typical requirement for 15 hours per
week of primary duties performed over a 35-week school
year for a part-time community college instructor.
However, certificated faculty are categorized by classes
of employees, and different classes of employees have
different hourly standards for the duties they are
required to perform. An English instructor may be
required to teach a different number of hours than a
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science instructor, who also is paid for laboratory
hours. In those cases, the FTE for those two classes of
faculty would be different. In cases where the FTE would
be lower than the statutory minimum of 525 hours, the
employer is required to report 525 hours for the faculty
members, which means affected faculty receive less
service credit than they should.
By requiring these collective bargaining or employment
agreements to be submitted to CalSTRS, SB 114 will allow
CalSTRS to cross-reference the information against the data
received in the monthly reports that are submitted by
employers to CalSTRS. In addition, CalSTRS is working with
the Chancellor's office to reach an agreement whereby
CalSTRS may utilize the data they receive from community
college employers as a means to verify the FTEs reported to
CalSTRS.
According to CalSTRS, "This information in conjunction with
the collective bargaining or employment agreements will
provide CalSTRS with a better understanding of how to help
employers report accurate FTEs so that they do not simply
report the statutory minimum of 525, as is the current
practice for some community colleges. Also, the additional
information may help to ensure that part-time instructors
are accruing the correct amount of service credit."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/15/12)
California Federation of Teachers (source)
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/15/12)
Department of Finance
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : CalSTRS supports this bill because
it will provide additional information to ensure community
colleges are reporting accurate service credit for
part-time and adult education instructors. CalSTRS states
this bill will allow them to check the information against
the data submitted by employers to CalSTRS. CalSTRS is
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working with the Chancellor's Office to reach an agreement
whereby CalSTRS may utilize the data they receive from
community college employers as a means to verify the FTEs
reported to CalSTRS. According to CalSTRS, this
information, in conjunction with the collective bargaining
or employment agreements will provide CalSTRS with a better
understanding of how to help employers report accurate FTEs
so that they do not simply report the statutory minimum of
525, as is the current practice for some community
colleges. Also, the additional information may help to
ensure that part-time instructors are accruing the correct
amount of service credit.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Department of Finance
opposes this bill for the following reasons: (1) The bill
could increase reimbursable state-mandate costs by
thousands to tens of thousands of dollars in Proposition 98
General Fund by requiring the California community college
districts (CCCDs) to submit bargaining and employment
agreements to CalSTRS; and (2) the bill is unnecessary
because CalSTRS can request the necessary agreements from
the CCCDs without creating a reimbursable state mandate.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 68-12, 08/27/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth
Gaines, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman,
Knight, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza,
Mitchell, Monning, Nestande, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V.
Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio,
Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Donnelly, Garrick, Gorell, Grove, Halderman,
Jeffries, Jones, Logue, Miller, Morrell, Nielsen, Silva
DLW:m 8/28/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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