BILL NUMBER: SCA 1 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senators Lara and Cannella
(Coauthor: Senator Anderson)
DECEMBER 4, 2014
A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California
an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending,
repealing, and adding Section 9 of Article IX thereof, relating to
the University of California.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCA 1, as introduced, Lara. University of California: legislative
control.
Existing provisions of the California Constitution provide that
the University of California constitutes a public trust, and require
the university to be administered by the Regents of the University of
California, a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers
of organization and government, subject to legislative control only
for specified purposes. These provisions require that corporation to
have all powers necessary or convenient for the effective
administration of its trust.
This measure would repeal on January 1, 2017, the constitutional
provisions relating to the university and the regents, and would
require the university and the regents to be continued in existence
subject to legislative control as may be provided by statute. The
measure would require the Legislature to enact legislation to
implement these provisions, but would prohibit the Legislature from
enacting any law that restrains academic freedom, as defined, or
imposes educational or curricular requirements on students enrolled
at the University of California. The measure would also require the
University of California to focus its recruitment efforts on the
enrollment of California residents as students of the university.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 2015-16 Regular Session
commencing on the first day of December 2014, two-thirds of the
membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of
the State of California, that the Constitution of the State be
amended as follows:
First-- That Section 9 of Article IX thereof is amended to read:
SEC. 9. (a) The University of California shall constitute a
public trust, to be administered by the existing corporation known as
"The Regents of the University of California," with full powers of
organization and government, subject only to such
that legislative control as may be necessary to
insure ensure the security of its funds and
compliance with the terms of the endowments of the university and
such competitive bidding procedures as may be made
applicable to the university by statute for the letting of
construction contracts, sales of real property, and purchasing of
materials, goods, and services. Said The
corporation shall be in form a board composed of seven ex
officio members, which shall be: the Governor, the Lieutenant
Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, the president and the vice president of the alumni
association of the university , and the acting president
of the university, and 18 appointive members appointed by the
Governor and approved by the Senate, a majority of the membership
concurring ; provided, however that the present appointive
members shall hold office until the expiration of their present terms
.
(b) The terms of the members appointed prior to November 5, 1974,
shall be 16 years; the terms of two appointive members to expire as
heretofore on March 1st 1 of every
even-numbered calendar year, and two members shall be appointed for
terms commencing on March 1, 1976, and on March 1 of each year
thereafter; provided that no such appointments shall be made for
terms to commence on March 1, 1979, or on March 1 of each fourth year
thereafter, to the end that no appointment to the regents for a
newly commencing term shall be made during the first year of any
gubernatorial term of office. The terms of the members appointed for
terms commencing on and after March 1, 1976, shall be 12 years.
During the period of transition until the time when the
appointive membership is comprised exclusively of persons serving for
terms of 12 years, the total number of appointive members may exceed
the numbers specified in the preceeding paragraph.
In case of any vacancy, the term of office of the appointee to
fill such vacancy, who shall be appointed by the Governor and
approved by the Senate, a majority of the membership concurring,
shall be for the balance of the term for which such
that vacancy exists.
(c) The members of the board may, in their discretion, following
procedures established by them and after consultation with
representatives of faculty and students of the university, including
appropriate officers of the academic senate and student governments,
appoint to the board either or both of the following persons as
members with all rights of participation: a member of the faculty at
a campus of the university or of another institution of higher
education; a person enrolled as a student at a campus of the
university for each regular academic term during his or her
service as a member of the board. Any person so appointed shall
serve for not less than one year commencing on July 1.
(d) Regents shall be able persons broadly reflective of the
economic, cultural, and social diversity of the State, including
ethnic minorities and women. However, it is not intended that
formulas or specific ratios be applied in the selection of regents.
(e) In the selection of the Regents regents
, the Governor shall consult an advisory committee composed as
follows: The Speaker of the Assembly and two public members
appointed by the Speaker, the President Pro
pro Tempore of the Senate and two public members appointed by
the Rules Committee of the Senate Committee
on Rules , two public members appointed by the Governor, the
chairman chairperson of the regents of
the university, an alumnus of the university chosen by the alumni
association of the university, a student of the university chosen by
the Council of Student Body Presidents, and a member of the faculty
of the university chosen by the academic senate of the university.
Public members shall serve for four years, except that one each of
the initially appointed members selected by the Speaker of the
Assembly, the President Pro pro Tempore
of the Senate, and the Governor shall be appointed to serve for two
years; student, alumni, and faculty members shall serve for one year
and may not be regents of the university at the time of their service
on the advisory committee.
(f) The Regents of the University of California shall be vested
with the legal title and the management and disposition of the
property of the university and of property held for its benefit
, and shall have the power to take and hold, either by
purchase or by donation, or gift, testamentary or otherwise, or in
any other manner, without restriction, all real and personal property
for the benefit of the university or incidentally to its conduct
; provided, however, that
. However, sales of university real property shall be subject
to such competitive bidding procedures as
that may be provided by statute. Said
The corporation shall also have all the powers
necessary or convenient for the effective administration of its
trust, including the power to sue and to be sued, to use a seal, and
to delegate to its committees or to the faculty of the university, or
to others, such the authority or
functions as it may deem wise. The Regents
regents shall receive all funds derived from the sale of lands
pursuant to the act of Congress of July 2, 1862, and any subsequent
acts amendatory thereof. The university shall be entirely independent
of all political or sectarian influence and kept free therefrom in
the appointment of its regents and in the administration of its
affairs, and no person shall be debarred admission to any department
of the university on account of race, religion, ethnic heritage, or
sex.
(g) Meetings of the Regents of the University of California shall
be public, with exceptions and notice requirements as may be provided
by statute.
(h) This section shall become inoperative on January 1, 2017, and
as of that date is repealed.
Second-- That Section 9 is added to Article IX thereof, to read:
SEC. 9. (a) The University of California is hereby continued
in existence in the state government, and is subject to legislative
control as may be provided by statute.
(b) The University of California shall be administered by the
existing corporation known as "The Regents of the University of
California," which is hereby continued in existence in the state
government, and is subject to legislative control as may be provided
by statute.
(c) (1) The Legislature shall enact legislation to implement this
section.
(2) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b), or any other
provision of this Constitution, the Legislature shall not enact any
law that restrains academic freedom within the University of
California or imposes educational or curricular requirements on
students enrolled at the University of California.
(3) As used in this subdivision, "academic freedom" means the
freedom to discuss all relevant matters in the classroom, to explore
all avenues of scholarship, research, and creative expression, and to
speak or write without institutional discipline or restraint on
matters of public concern as well as matters related to professional
duties of faculty and staff and the functioning of the university.
(d) The University of California shall focus its recruitment
efforts on the enrollment of California residents as students of the
university.
(e) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2017.