BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 950 (Chau) - Community Colleges: Full-Time Instructors
Amended: June 12, 2013 Policy Vote: Education 5-3
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 30, 2013
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary: AB 950 prohibits a full-time faculty member of a
community college district (CCD) from being assigned a workload
with an overload or extra assignments exceeding 50% of the
full-time semester or quarter workload, with specified
exceptions.
Fiscal Impact (as proposed to be amended):
Mandate: This bill may impose a new reimbursable mandate on
CCDs. The fiscal impact of this bill will vary by CCD; some
will likely experience additional costs, others will
experience savings, and still others will have no change
because they have local policies in place which mirror this
bill's requirements. The CCDs that experience increased
administrative workload and/or salary costs will likely
qualify for reimbursement through the state mandates claims
process.
Background: Existing law defines "faculty" as those employees of
a CCD 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 � 87003)
Existing law 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 �
87482.5 and � 87882)
The term "overload assignments" refers to the practice of
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full-time faculty electing to teach additional courses, with
additional pay, beyond their normal full-time teaching load.
Many colleges and universities have established policies
regarding overload assignments. These policies appear to vary
significantly among colleges and departments. 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.
Proposed Law: AB 950 requires that a full-time CCD faculty
member not be assigned a workload that includes overload or
extra assignments in excess of 50% of a full-time workload in a
semester or quarter that commences on or after January 1, 2014,
with exceptions for: a) a summer or intersession term; b) a CCD
with fewer than 3,000 full-time equivalent students (FTES); and,
c) programs in the Taxonomy of Programs Code 09 for Engineering
and Industrial Technologies.
This bill provides that the prohibition not supersede the
pertinent requirements of a collective bargaining agreement
containing restrictions regarding limitations on overload or
extra assignments that are in effect at the time it becomes
operative. Any future collective bargaining agreement is subject
to this bill's prohibition.
Related Legislation: AB 1826 (Hernandez) 2012 was substantially
similar to this bill. That bill has held under submission in
this Committee.
AB 383 (Portantino) 2011, proposed a one-time stipend to a CCD
entering into a collective bargaining agreement prohibiting more
than a 50% overload. It failed passage in the Assembly Higher
Education Committee in January 2012.
Staff Comments: This bill mandates a requirement on all CCDs for
an issue which is currently subject to collective bargaining.
According to the Chancellor's Office, the most recent survey on
this topic 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. For the Fall 2011
semester, of the 14,489 tenured or tenured track faculty
teaching community college classes, only 172 had an overload
exceeding 50%. For CCDs already in compliance with this bill,
there will be no immediate effect. It does, however, eliminate
the option of increasing overloads to above 50% in the future,
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which could impact future collective bargaining and CCD costs.
The ongoing fiscal impact of this bill will vary by CCD, for
those that currently allow overload assignments above 50% for
full-time faculty. It will also vary year-by-year for each CCD
depending on how the requirement to cap overload courses changes
the faculty teaching individual courses. In some cases, courses
that could have previously been given to full-time faculty will
be taught by part-time faculty, who are typically paid less than
their full-time counterparts (though this varies by department,
institution, and particular instructors). In those cases, there
will likely be wage savings.
In other cases, a CCD may have to hire additional part-time
faculty, in order to keep its existing part-time faculty below
the 67% course load cap. Any administrative costs incurred to
comply with this policy change would be reimbursable, including
having to hire additional part-time faculty. This variation will
be ongoing and, thus, the fiscal impact will continually change.
Many CCDs have collective bargaining agreements that include
overload caps for faculty, and they vary by agreement. The
agreements are unique to district conditions and local needs and
may change when contracts are renegotiated. Mandating one system
for all CCDs, as this bill does, will undoubtedly affect other
areas of collective bargaining negotiations because it removes
an option from being negotiated in the bargain. Restricting CCD
bargaining options may indirectly drive additional expenses.
Moreover, to the extent that local collective bargaining
agreements cap full-time faculty overload below 50%, this bill
could be seen as endorsing a higher cap.
AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED: Author's proposed amendments specify
that the bill's prohibition does not supersede the pertinent
requirements of a collective bargaining agreement containing
restrictions regarding limitations on overload or extra
assignments that is in effect at the time the bill becomes
operative.