BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2324
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2324 (Williams)
As Amended August 20, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |75-0 |(April 24, |SENATE: |28-6 |(August 25, |
| | |2014) | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: HIGHER ED.
SUMMARY : Provides that the two-year term of office of the
faculty member of the California State University (CSU) Board of
Trustees (BOT) may continue after the term expires for one
additional year, or until the Governor has appointed a
successor.
The Senate amendments provide that the faculty member may remain
in office after the term expires for one additional year, rather
than a full two-year term, or until a successor is appointed by
the Governor, whichever occurs first; and add double-jointing
language in order to avoid chaptering out provisions of AB 2721
(Pan) of the current legislative session.
EXISTING LAW establishes the CSU to be administered by the BOT,
which consists of:
1)Five ex officio members: the Governor, Lieutenant Governor,
Speaker of the Assembly, State Superintendent of Public
Instruction, and the Chancellor;
2)An Alumni Trustee appointed by the CSU Statewide Alumni
Council to serve for a two-year term, which expires at the end
of the two years;
3)A Faculty Trustee appointed by the Governor from a list of
nominees proposed by the Statewide Academic Senate to serve a
two-year term which commences on July 1 and expires on June 30
two years thereafter;
4)Two student trustees appointed by the Governor from a list of
nominees proposed by the California State Student Association.
These student trustees serve staggered two-year terms. One
has full voting powers; the second, non-voting student trustee
AB 2324
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succeeds to the voting position upon the expiration of the
term of the first. The terms commence on July 1, every other
year, and expire on June 30 two years thereafter; and
5)Sixteen remaining trustees are appointed by the Governor,
confirmed by two-thirds of the State Senate, and serve eight
year terms. Trustees confirmed by the senate remain on the
board until a replacement is named or 60 days after their term
expires whichever comes first.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, potential forgone savings to the CSU, up to $118,000
(General Fund) in salary costs and up to tens of thousands of
dollars in benefits, in any fiscal year in which the faculty
member's term expires, and the Governor has not yet appointed a
successor. However, these costs would only be incurred in years
during which the Governor has not appointed a new faculty member
to serve on BOT, as intended in statute, and only for the amount
of time the appointment is delayed up to one year.
COMMENTS : According to the author, in recent years there have
been lengthy intervals during which no Faculty Trustee has been
appointed to the BOT. The longest period was from 2009 to 2011,
which resulted in the Faculty Trustee position being vacant for
an entire two-year term. This occurred more recently in the
summer and fall of 2013, a period of several months during which
time the BOT met twice without a Faculty Trustee. The author
believes that the absence of faculty representation is
detrimental to the major, long-term decisions being made by the
Board. This bill will ensure CSU faculty are represented on the
BOT by automatically allowing the Faculty Trustee to serve an
additional year in the absence of a timely appointment by the
Governor.
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
FN: 0005399