BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2294 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 4, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 2294 (Gomez) - As Introduced February 18, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Higher Education |Vote:|10 - 3 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill: 1)Requires the California State University (CSU) to grant any employee, upon request, a leave of absence without loss of compensation for the purpose of enabling the employee to serve as an elected officer of any CSU campus public employee organization, or of any statewide or national public employee AB 2294 Page 2 organization with which the university campus organization is affiliated. 2)Provides that, following payment of the employee for the leave of absence, CSU shall be reimbursed by the employee organization for all such compensation. FISCAL EFFECT: Net minor costs or savings to CSU. Unlike the bargaining agreement described below, this bill does not limit the number of employees who could be granted leave. To the extent more employees take leave, CSU could experience increased administrative costs to fill the additional vacant positions. It is assumed that the replacement employee would generally receive less, or at most, the same compensation as the employee on leave, whose compensation (salary, retirement contribution, health care benefits) would be fully reimbursed by the union. COMMENTS: 1)Background. CSU faculty union leave is governed by the CSU/California Faculty Association (CFA) Collective Bargaining Agreement, which requires, upon the request of CFA, that CSU grant leave without loss of compensation. Up to the equivalent of 16 full-time positions per year of such leaves can be granted. Any employee on such leave continues to earn all campus service and retirement credit. CFA is required to reimburse CSU for all compensation paid to the faculty unit employee on leave and for any incidental costs, including the cost of benefits in an amount equal to the cost of CSU contributions for PERS retirement and an additional 10 percent of salary. Additionally, the agreement reads, "whenever possible, the foregoing shall be implemented only if the CFA AB 2294 Page 3 notifies the CSU of the names of faculty unit members requesting leave thirty (30) days before the start of each academic term during which the leave will occur. The CFA agrees to meet with the CSU to discuss concerns regarding how release time under this provision impacts departmental instructional requirements." 2)Purpose. According to the author, this bill brings statutory parity to the CSU it does not currently have with K-12 teachers and community college faculty. The author notes that CSU faculty participation in a union elected leadership position is subject to the discretion of the CSU, under relevant MOUs and Bargaining Agreements, and is not currently guaranteed in statute. 3)Opposition. CSU argues the measure sidesteps the collective bargaining process and would impact 13 collective bargaining units, hindering the system's ability to consider the leave request in the context of its impact on campus operations and instruction. 4)Comment. Aside from the question of whether the current process reached through collective bargaining is reasonable and generally working well for CSU and the unions, it would seem that this bill should at least require prior notification of a pending leave of absence, to allow the university time to adjust accordingly. Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 AB 2294 Page 4