BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2294
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2294 (Gomez) - As Introduced February 18, 2016
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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
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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
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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
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