BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1413|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1413
Author: Portantino (D), et al
Amended: 9/5/07 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 5-1, 7/11/07
AYES: Wyland, Padilla, Romero, Simitian, Torlakson
NOES: Scott
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alquist, Denham, Maldonado
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-3, 8/22/07
AYES: Torlakson, Cedillo, Corbett, Kuehl, Oropeza,
Simitian, Steinberg, Wyland, Yee
NOES: Cox, Ashburn, Runner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Aanestad, Battin, Dutton, Florez,
Ridley-Thomas
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-1, 6/7/07 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : California State University: trustees
SOURCE : California Faculty Association
DIGEST : This bill authorizes an ex officio member of the
California State University Board of Trustees to designate
a staff person to attend Trustee meetings in his/her
absence, and establishes new requirements governing
executive compensation and ethical standards.
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/5/07 delete language
CONTINUED
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permitting a designee to act on behalf of an ex officio
member of the Board of Trustees, and add language that
prohibits a staff person designated to attend Board of
Trustee meetings on behalf of an ex officio member from
attending any closed session of the Board.
ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes the California State
University (CSU) administered by a Board of Trustees. The
Trustees meet six times per year.
Existing law, the Political Reform Act (Act), prohibits a
public official at any level of state or local government
from making, participating in making, or in any way
attempting to use his/her official position to influence a
government decision in which he/she knows or has reason to
know he/she has a financial interest.
Existing law requires every agency to adopt and promulgate
a Conflict of Interest Code pursuant to the provisions of
the Act. Existing law further states that the Conflict of
Interest Code shall have the force of law and any violation
of a Conflict of Interest Code by a designated employee
shall be deemed a violation of the Act. The Fair Political
Practices Commission treats the CSU as an Agency subject to
the Act.
Current law defines appointments, terms, powers, and
functions of the Board of Trustees and defines the
composition, as follows:
1. Sixteen Governor appointees, confirmed by two-thirds of
the Senate, each serving an eight-year term.
2. One alumni association representative, appointed by the
Governor, serving a two-year term.
3. One CSU faculty representative, appointed by the
Governor, serving a two-year term.
4. Two student members, appointed by the Governor, serving
staggered two-year terms. One student Trustee has full
voting powers, the second, non-voting student Trustee
succeeds to the voting position upon the expiration of
the term of the first.
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5. Five voting ex officio members, including four elected
state officials: the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor,
the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Superintendent of
Public Instruction. The CSU Chancellor is the fifth ex
officio member.
This bill:
1. Authorizes any ex officio member of the Board of
Trustees to designate a staff person to attend a meeting
or meetings of the board in his/her absence. The
designated staff person shall not attend any closed
session of the Board. No more than one staff person may
be designated to attend board meetings in any calendar
year.
2. Prohibits the Board of Trustees from approving a
contract for hiring an executive officer unless and
until the contract are adopted by resolution in a duly
noticed meeting of the Board.
3. Defines executive officer to include the Chancellor, a
vice chancellor, an executive vice chancellor, the
general counsel of the CSU, and the president of a
campus.
4. Prohibits transition pay granted to outgoing executives
from exceeding the compensation received during the last
year of regular duties and requires transition pay to be
received only for actual duties performed.
5. Prohibits compensation in the form of Trustee
professorships unless it is paid in consideration for
actual teaching.
6. Grandfathers in those agreements approved by the
Trustees and implemented prior to January 1, 2008.
Related Legislation . SB 190 (Yee) requires action taken by
a committee of the Board or the full CSU Board of Trustees
on executive compensation proposals for specified executive
positions to occur in open session and requires full
disclosure and rationale for each compensation package.
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The bill is on the Assembly Third Reading File.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
This bill will not result in significant costs. There may
be some costs related to travel and accommodations for
staff to attend Trustee meetings (the Board of Trustees is
not required to compensate ex officios for this cost), but
these costs would be minor.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/28/07)
California Faculty Association (source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
California State Employees Association
California Teachers Association
John Garamendi, Lieutenant Governor
Service Employee International Union
State Employees' Trades Council
The Greenlining Institute
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/28/07)
California State University
Department of Finance
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : This bill's sponsor, the
California Faculty Association, states that their goal is
greater public participation and oversight and to ensure
more responsible and transparent decision making by the
Board of Trustees.
The sponsor contends that schedule conflicts make it
difficult for ex officio Trustees to regularly attend
Trustee meetings. Proponents argue that lack of ex officio
participation denies faculty, staff, and students adequate
representation on matters concerning contract approvals,
executive compensation, and student fees, noting this
authority is already given to the retirement boards of the
Public Employees' Retirement System and the State Teachers'
Retirement System.
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ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Department of Finance
argues that (1) allowing a designee to vote in place of a
member does not assure that the experience and expertise of
an ex officio member who was voted into office based on
his/her qualifications will be brought to bear on important
matters relative to the CSU system, (2) the bill's
executive compensation provisions are either redundant or
unnecessary in several areas, and (3) the executive
compensation changes are premature, given that the Bureau
of State Audits is currently conducting an extensive audit
to examine this subject, and is expected to report in late
Fall 2007.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Aghazarian, Anderson, Arambula, Beall,
Benoit, Berg, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Brownley, Caballero,
Carter, Cook, Coto, Davis, De Leon, DeSaulnier, DeVore,
Duvall, Dymally, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fuentes,
Galgiani, Garcia, Garrick, Hancock, Hayashi, Hernandez,
Horton, Houston, Huff, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Karnette, Keene, Krekorian, La Malfa, Laird, Leno,
Levine, Lieber, Lieu, Ma, Maze, Mendoza, Mullin,
Nakanishi, Nava, Niello, Parra, Plescia, Portantino,
Price, Sharon Runner, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Smyth, Solorio, Spitzer, Strickland, Swanson, Torrico,
Tran, Villines, Walters, Wolk, Nunez
NOES: Gaines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Charles Calderon, De La Torre,
Fuller, Richardson, Soto
NC:mw 9/6/07 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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