BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1379
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Date of Hearing: August 30, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Jose Medina, Chair
SB
1379 (Mendoza) - As Amended August 29, 2016
SENATE VOTE: Vote Not Relevant
SUBJECT: Community colleges: part-time, temporary employees
SUMMARY: Provides for amendments to AB 1690 (Medina), currently
pending on the Governor's desk, which requires California
Community College districts (CCDs) to have collective bargaining
agreements with part-time faculty that include specified
conditions of employment. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires, as a condition of receiving funds allocated for the
Student Success and Support Program (SSSP) in the annual
budget act, on or after July 1, 2017, any CCDs that do not
have a collective bargaining agreement with part-time,
temporary faculty in effect as of January 1, 2017, to commence
negotiations regarding the rights of those faculty, as
specified.
2)Establishes Legislative intent that the rights of part-time,
temporary faculty, as specified in this bill, shall be
included as part of the usual and customary negotiations
between the CCD and the exclusive representative for
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part-time, temporary faculty.
3)Establishes Legislative intent that the CCD establish minimum
standards for the terms of reemployment preference for
part-time, temporary faculty through the negotiation process
that complies with all of the following:
a) The standards include all of the following:
i) The length of time the faculty have served at the
college or CCD;
ii) The number of courses faculty have taught at the
college or CCD;
iii) The evaluations of faculty required pursuant to
existing law, and any other related methods of evaluation
that can be reliably used to assess educational impact of
faculty as it relates to student success; and,
iv) The availability, willingness, and expertise of
faculty to teach specific classes or take on specific
assignments that is necessary for student instruction or
services.
b) Additional standards may be considered and established
through the negotiation process, as necessary. These
standards shall reflect the process and procedures for
assigning part-time, temporary faculty to teach courses or
staff non-classroom assignments, and for evaluating
part-time, temporary faculty.
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4)Requires, as a condition of receiving SSSP funding, a CCD and
the exclusive representative of the part-time, temporary
faculty to negotiate in good faith all of the following:
a) The terms of reemployment preference for part-time,
temporary faculty assignments based on the minimum
standards established, up to the range of 60 to 67 percent
of a full-time equivalent load. These terms shall also
contain policies for termination, including, but not
limited to, the evaluation process, as negotiated; and,
b) A regular evaluation process for part-time, temporary
faculty.
5)Requires a CCD that has a collective bargaining agreement in
effect as of July 1, 2017, that has satisfied the
aforementioned requirements, and that executes a signed
written agreement with the exclusive representative of the
part-time, temporary faculty acknowledging implementation
shall be deemed to be in compliance with this section while
the bargaining agreement is in effect.
6)Provides, in all cases, part-time faculty assignments shall be
temporary in nature, contingent on enrollment and funding, and
subject to program changes, and no part-time faculty member
shall have reasonable assurance of continued employment at any
point, irrespective of the status, length of service, or
reemployment preference of that part-time temporary faculty
member.
EXISTING LAW establishes extensive, complex statutes which apply
to "full-time", "part-time", "temporary", "contract" and other
academic employees, in a wide array of situations related to
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multiple aspects of district employment. The following is a
non-comprehensive list of relevant existing laws:
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).
2)Defines any person who is employed to teach for not more than
67 percent of the hours per week considered a full-time
assignment to be a temporary (part-time) 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 faculty and authorizes
CCDs with less than 75 percent full-time instructors to apply
a portion of their "program improvement" funds toward reaching
the 75 percent 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
full-time 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
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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).
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. However, according to the Senate
Appropriations Committee analysis of AB 1690 (Medina), according
to the Community College League of California, out of 72
community college districts 40 districts do not include
seniority provisions in collective bargaining agreements with
part-time faculty. Assuming a cost of $5,000 to $10,000 per
district to establish a list, statewide reimbursable costs would
be between $200,000 and $400,000.
COMMENTS: Purpose of this bill. Current law requires that
reemployment rights for part-time, temporary faculty are a
subject of negotiation during collective bargaining and provides
that reemployment rights may be based on whatever factors are
agreed to by both parties. Many CCDs have established
reemployment rights through the bargaining process; however,
many CCDs have not established these rights, and job instability
continues to be one of the greatest concerns for part-time,
temporary faculty.
AB 1690 (Medina), which was approved by the Legislature and is
currently pending on the Governor's Desk, would require all CCDs
to negotiate reemployment agreements and would specify the
minimum standards and requirements for those local bargaining
agreements.
This bill proposes to amend the Education Code as it would be
added by AB 1690. This bill would remove the specific minimum
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standards of the reemployment preference policies contained in
AB 1690 and would instead require those standards to be locally
negotiated. This bill would establish Legislative intent
regarding those minimum standards. Additionally, this bill
would delay the implementation date of AB 1690 from January 1,
2017 to July 1, 2017. Finally, this bill would make CCD
compliance with the requirement to negotiate reemployment rights
of part-time, temporary faculty a condition for receiving
funding allocated for the SSSP program in the annual budget act.
Committee staff understands that this bill is intended to
respond to concerns that have been raised by the Governor's
Office regarding provisions of AB 1690.
Related legislation. As previously noted, this bill provides
for amendments to AB 1690 (Medina), which is currently pending
on the Governor's desk. AB 1690 requires CCDs that do not have
a collective bargaining agreement with part-time faculty in
effect as of January 1, 2017, to commence negotiations with
exclusive representatives for part-time, temporary faculty
regarding specified terms and conditions; provides that a CCD
with a collective bargaining agreement with part-time faculty in
effect as of January 1, 2017 and executes a signed written
agreement, shall be exempt from the requirements if the
agreement takes into account specific provisions; and, provides
that a written agreement, confirming that these provisions have
been included in a collective bargaining agreement, shall be
signed by the exclusive representative for part-time faculty and
the CCD in order for the district to be exempt.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
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None on File
Opposition
None on File
Analysis Prepared by:Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960