BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 950
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 950 (Chau)
As Introduced February 22, 2013
Majority vote
HIGHER EDUCATION 8-4 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Williams, Fong, Fox, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Jones-Sawyer, Levine, | |Bradford, |
| |Medina, Quirk-Silva, | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| |Weber | |Eggman, Gomez, Hall, |
| | | |Holden, Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ammiano |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Ch�vez, Waldron, Olsen, |Nays:|Harkey, Bigelow, |
| |Wilk | |Donnelly, Linder, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Prohibits a full-time faculty member of the California
Community College (CCC) district from being assigned a workload
with an overload or extra assignments exceeding 50% of the
full-time semester or quarter workload. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Prohibits a full-time faculty member of the CCC, as defined,
from being assigned a workload that includes overload or extra
assignments if the overload or extra assignments exceed 50% of
a full-time workload in a semester or a quarter that commences
on or after January 1, 2014.
2)Specifies the prohibition shall not supersede a collective
bargaining agreement containing restrictions regarding
overload that are more stringent.
3)Specifies the overload prohibition shall not apply to summer
or intersession terms.
4)Stipulates that CCC districts with collective bargaining
agreements that contain 50% overload limits would be subject
to this bill beginning January 1, 2015.
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5)Specifies that the overload prohibition applies to the
workload of supervisory or managerial personnel of a CCC
district who are performing faculty work allowed under a
collective bargaining agreement.
6)Requires districts to be reimbursed for costs if the
Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains
costs mandated by the state.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Defines "faculty" as those employees of a CCC district who are
employed in academic positions that are not designated as
supervisory or management, as specified. Faculty include, but
are not limited to, instructors, librarians, counselors,
community college health services professionals, handicapped
student programs and services professionals, and extended
opportunity programs and services professionals (Education
Code (EC) Section 87003).
2)Defines any person who is employed to teach for not more than
67% of the hours per week considered a full-time assignment to
be a temporary (part-time) employee (EC Section 87482.5 and
87882).
3)Requires the CCC Board of Governors (BOG) to adopt regulations
regarding the percent of credit instruction taught by
full-time faculty and authorizes CCC districts with less than
75% full-time instructors to apply a portion of their "program
improvement" funds toward reaching the 75% goal (commonly
referred to as "75/25") (EC Section 87482.6).
The state has stopped providing program improvement funds and
the BOG has since required CCC districts to provide a portion of
their growth funds to hiring more full-time faculty.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, the fiscal impact associated with this bill includes:
1)One-time minor reimbursable cost, likely less than $50,000
statewide, for districts or colleges with a policy or
bargaining agreement allowing overload exceeded 50% to conform
to the statutory cap.
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2)Potential minor savings to the extent part-time faculty teach
courses that otherwise would be taught by full-time faculty
with an overload exceeding 50%. According to the CCC
Chancellor's Office Report on Staffing for Fall 2010, the
average rate for overload instruction was $68.36 hourly, while
the average hourly salary for part-time/temporary was $66.58.
These savings could be partially offset to the extent some
part-time faculty members teaching loads increase such that
they would become eligible for benefits.
COMMENTS : The term "overload assignments" refers to the
practice of full-time faculty electing to teach additional
courses (with additional pay) beyond their normal full-time
teaching load. While policies regarding overload assignments
can vary significantly among the CCCs and departments, they are
generally designed to ensure that the primary responsibilities
of faculty are not compromised by the overload assignments.
Some colleges require individual assignments to be approved by
department deans while others have negotiated district-wide caps
that range from one course to 67% of a full-time load.
According to the CCC Chancellor's Office, a recent survey
revealed that 13 of 44 responding colleges indicated that they
have a policy or bargaining unit allowing full-time faculty to
have more than a 50% overload. According to the Chancellor's
Office, for the Fall 2011 semester, of the 14,489 tenured or
tenured track faculty teaching CCC classes, only 172 (1.2%) had
an overload exceeding 50%. (The Los Angeles Community College
District, which encompasses about 8% of statewide CCC
enrollment, is not yet included in this data.)
According to the author, this bill will improve conditions for
both faculty members and students by placing a reasonable
workload cap for full-time CCC faculty. The author contends
that this measure provides an opportunity to both improve the
quality of education and address a barrier to full-time faculty
positions at the CCC.
This bill establishes a statewide cap on the overload
assignments a full-time faculty member may teach. Given that
most full-time faculty appear not to be teaching overload
assignments that exceed the 50% of their full-time workload and
given that some districts and faculty have negotiated overload
caps that meet local needs, it is not clear if the remedy this
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bill prescribes is necessary. While prohibiting excessive
overload assignments may make it easier for part-time faculty to
continue teaching, the bill could reduce the flexibility of
districts to meet local needs. Very small districts or those
that offer unique programs where the number of experts available
to teach may be limited, could find it particularly challenging
to comply with the requirements of this bill.
Related legislation: AB 1826 (Roger Hern�ndez) of 2012,
virtually identical to this measure, was held on the Suspense
File in the Senate Appropriations Committee. AB 383
(Portantino) of 2011 proposed a one-time stipend to a CCC
district entering into a collective bargaining agreement
prohibiting more than a 50% overload. This measure failed
passage in the Assembly Higher Education Committee.
Analysis Prepared by : Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
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