BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1690
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1690 (Medina)
As Amended March 14, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Higher |10-2 |Medina, Bloom, Irwin, |Baker, Linder |
|Education | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Jones-Sawyer, Levine, | |
| | |Low, Olsen, Santiago, | |
| | |Weber, Williams | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |14-6 |Gonzalez, Bloom, |Bigelow, Chang, |
| | |Bonilla, Bonta, |Gallagher, Jones, |
| | |Calderon, Daly, |Obernolte, Wagner |
| | |Eggman, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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AB 1690
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SUMMARY: Requires all community college districts (CCDs) to
have collective bargaining agreements with part-time (P/T)
faculty that include specified conditions of employment.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires CCDs, on or after January 1, 2017, if a CCD does not
have a collective bargaining agreement with P/T faculty in
effect as of January 1, 2017, to begin negotiations with the
exclusive representatives for P/T faculty regarding the terms
and conditions required, as specified; and requires that the
parties shall negotiate these rights for P/T faculty.
2)Expresses that the Legislature intends that both of the
following occur: a) the adoption of the provisions, as
specified, shall be included as part of the usual and
customary negotiations between the CCD and the exclusive
representative for P/T faculty; and, b) that a CCD meet the
minimum standards established, as specified, through the
negotiation process between the CCD and the exclusive
representative for P/T faculty.
3)Requires a CCD that enters into a collective bargaining
agreement on or after January 1, 2017, to comply with all of
the following:
a) Upon initial hire, and subsequently thereafter, a P/T
faculty member shall be evaluated, as specified in
Education Code (EC) Section 87663;
b) After six semesters or nine quarters of service,
exclusive of summer and intersession terms, each P/T
faculty member who has not received a
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less-than-satisfactory evaluation during the preceding six
semesters or nine quarters of service shall be placed on a
seniority list for each assignment at each college where
he/she holds a current assignment during the seventh
semester or 10th quarter of service, irrespective of how
many times he or she has completed each unique assignment.
The seniority for all assignments shall be determined based
on the first date of hire at the applicable college.
Seniority lists shall be by campus unless otherwise locally
negotiated between the CCD and the exclusive representative
for P/T faculty;
c) For semester seven or quarter 10 and beyond, each CCD
shall endeavor to maintain the workload equivalent that the
P/T faculty member was assigned during semester six or
quarter nine, subject to all of the following:
i) As new assignments become available due to growth or
attrition, these assignments shall be offered in
seniority order to those P/T faculty members who have
qualified to be placed on the seniority list, as
specified, and previously successfully completed that
same assignment. These assignments may be made up to a
maximum annualized load, exclusive of summer and
intersession terms, in the range of 60% to 67% of a
full-time equivalent load,
ii) In cases where a reduction in assignment needs to
occur due to program needs, budget constraints, or more
contract faculty hires, the reduction shall occur first
from among those P/T faculty members who have not yet
qualified to be placed on the seniority list, and
thereafter in reverse seniority order, with the least P/T
faculty member reduced first. Any rights to a certain
workload equivalent shall be maintained for a period of
18 months. In cases of class cancellation due to low
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enrollment, faculty members shall displace faculty
members who are lower than they are on the seniority
list, if the class cancellation occurs prior to the first
class meeting day, and,
iii) Each new assignment successfully completed shall be
added to the P/T faculty member seniority list.
d) Procedures governing refusal or rejection of offered
assignments, diminution or loss of seniority rights, and
additional leave or break-in-service provisions shall be
locally negotiated between the CCD and the exclusive
representative for P/T faculty;
e) In cases where a P/T faculty member, subsequent to
qualifying to be placed on the seniority list, receives a
less-than-satisfactory evaluation, as that term is defined
in the collective bargaining agreement between the CCD and
the exclusive representative for P/T faculty, the faculty
member shall be provided a written plan of remediation with
concrete suggestions for improvement. The faculty member
shall be evaluated again the following semester. If the
outcome of this subsequent evaluation is also less than
satisfactory, the faculty member shall lose all seniority
rights, and may be dismissed at the discretion of the
district. Appeal and grievance rights and procedures, if
any, shall be subject to local collective bargaining; and,
f) In all cases, P/T faculty assignments are temporary in
nature, contingent on enrollment and funding, and subject
to program changes, and no P/T faculty member has a
reasonable assurance of continued employment at any point,
irrespective of the status, length of service, or
reemployment preference seniority of that P/T faculty
member.
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4)Specifies that a CCD that has a collective bargaining
agreement in effect as of January 1, 2017, that has provisions
in place that require implementation of all of the following,
and executes a signed written agreement, as specified, shall
be exempt, as specified, upon the expiration of that
agreement:
a) P/T faculty assignment based on seniority up to the
range of 60% to 67% of a full-time equivalent load;
b) A regular evaluation process for P/T faculty; and,
c) Due process for termination once a P/T faculty member
has qualified for the negotiated provisions.
5)Specifies that a written agreement, confirming that clauses
4)a) to 4)c), above, inclusive, have been included in a
collective bargaining agreement in effect as of January 1,
2017, shall be signed by the exclusive representative for P/T
faculty and the CCD, who are subject to that agreement, in
order for the district to be exempt, as specified.
EXISTING LAW:
1)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 (EC Section 87003).
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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 (P/T) employee (EC Sections 87482.5 and 87882).
3)Requires the California Community Colleges (CCC) Board of
Governors (BOG) to adopt regulations regarding the percent of
credit instruction taught by full-time (F/T) faculty and
authorizes CCDs with less than 75% F/T instructors to apply a
portion of their "program improvement" funds toward reaching
the 75% goal (commonly referred as "75/25") (EC Section
87482.6). To note, the state has stopped providing program
improvement funds and the BOG has since required CCDs to
provide a portion of their growth funds to hiring more F/T
faculty.
4)Requires that contract employees shall be evaluated at least
once in each academic year, that regular employees shall be
evaluated at least once in every three academic years, and
that temporary employees shall be evaluated within the first
year of employment. Specifies that thereafter, evaluation
shall be at least once every six regular semesters, or once
every nine regular quarters, as applicable. Stipulates that
whenever an evaluation is required of a faculty member by a
CCD, the evaluation shall be conducted in accordance with the
standards and procedures established by the rules and
regulations of the governing board of the employing CCD (EC
Section 87663).
A complete summary of existing law regarding the employment of
CCC faculty is beyond the scope of this analysis; however, it is
important to note there are extensive, complex statutes, many of
which apply to "full-time", "part-time", "temporary", "contract"
and other academic employees, in a wide array of situations
related to multiple aspects of district employment.
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FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, all districts currently have collecting bargaining
agreements that include provisions regarding P/T faculty. AB
1245 (Alquist), Chapter 850, Statutes of 2001, required the
issue of reappointment rights for temporary faculty be a subject
of negotiation during collective bargaining and provided that
reappointment rights may be based on whatever factors are agreed
to by both parties. At least 41 community college districts,
however, do not maintain a seniority list. Assuming costs of
$5,000 to $10,000 per district to establish such lists,
presumably for each academic department, one-time reimbursable
state-mandated costs would be $205,000 to $410,000 statewide
(General Fund-Prop 98). Once established, the ongoing cost to
maintain the seniority lists should be minor and absorbable.
COMMENTS: Need for this measure. According to the author, "Job
instability continues to be one of the greatest concerns for
part-time/temporary faculty. The inability to negotiate
reemployment policies at most community college districts has
resulted in unreliable reemployment practices." The author
contends that this leaves many part-time faculty wondering if
they will have a job the following semester.
Additionally, many part-time/temporary faculty are left with no
option but to piece together full-time teaching schedules
through employment in two or more CCDs. The author argues that,
"The varying reemployment policies in theses community college
districts make it difficult for part-time/temporary faculty to
plan their upcoming teaching schedules."
Part-time faculty. According to the Center for Community
College Student Engagement's (CCCSE) April 2014 report,
entitled, "Contingent Commitments: Bringing Part-Time Faculty
Into Focus," 70% of the 400,000 faculty members of public,
two-year colleges hired in 2009 were part-time instructors. The
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CCCSE report found that the P/T faculty teach 58% of community
college classes; and, 53% of community college students.
Additionally, the report found that for many P/T faculty,
contingent employment goes "hand-in-hand" with being
marginalized within the faculty. The CCCSE report also found
that differences in the actions of part-time and full-time
faculty cannot necessarily be attributed to differences in the
will or abilities of P/T faculty. The report contends that,
"Most likely, they [the differences] exist at least in part
because colleges too often are not fully supporting part-time
faculty or engaging them in critical elements of the faculty
experience."
According to the California Federation of Teachers, nearly 50%
of the CCC course selections are taught by part-time faculty and
part-time faculty outnumber full-time faculty by two to one.
Community college districts' reemployment policies. Many
districts have established reappointment rights policies under
existing law. Similar models (as to those contained in this
bill) have already been successfully negotiated in the following
CCDs: Grossmont-Cuyamaca, Los Angeles, San Diego, San
Francisco, and Ventura.
This measure provides guidelines forming a basis enabling P/T
faculty to establish job security, providing consistency for
both students and instructors, and accountability to ensuring
that P/T faculty retained under the provisions of this measure
are providing the highest level of instruction and demonstrated
commitment to student success.
Related legislation. AB 1010 (Medina) of the current
legislative session, which was held under submission in the
Senate Appropriations Committee, is similar in nature to this
measure.
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AB 1807 (Fong) of 2010, which was held under submission in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee, would among others, require
CCDs to establish and implement seniority rights and preference
lists for P/T faculty.
Analysis Prepared by:
Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960
FN: 0003241