BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1413
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1413 (Portantino)
As Amended September 5, 2007
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |73-1 |(June 7, 2007) |SENATE: |25-14|(September 7, |
| | | | | |2007) |
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Original Committee Reference: HIGHER ED.
SUMMARY : Authorizes an ex officio member of the California
State University (CSU) Board of Trustees to designate a staff
person to attend Trustee meetings on his/her behalf and
establishes new requirements governing executive compensation.
The Senate amendments :
1)Clarify that the ex officio member's designee must be employed
by the ex officio member for at least one year.
2)Delete the authority for the designee to act on the ex officio
member's behalf.
3)Specify that the designee may not participate in closed
sessions of the CSU Board of Trustees.
4)Clarify that the executive compensation provisions to do apply
to contracts approved prior to January 1, 2008.
5)Make technical and clarifying changes.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Allowed ex officio members of CSU Board of Trustees to
designate a person to attend board meetings in his or her
absence and to act on his or her behalf at those meetings.
2)Prohibited the CSU Board of Trustees, on and after January 1,
2008, from approving a contract for the hiring of an executive
officer unless that contract and its terms are adopted, by
resolution, in a duly noticed meeting of the board.
AB 1413
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3)Required that, to the extent the CSU Board of Trustees approve
transition pay for executive officers who are ceasing to
perform their regular duties, transition pay cannot exceed the
compensation received by the executive officer in the last
year of regular duties and can only be paid for actual duties
performed.
4)Provided that, when the CSU Board of Trustees approve
executive compensation in the form of trustee professorships
at the time an executive officer ceases to perform his or her
regular duties, this compensation cannot exceed the amount a
full CSU professor would be paid for a similar teaching
assignment.
FISCAL EFFECT : According the to the Senate Appropriations
Committee analysis, negligible fiscal impact to CSU.
COMMENTS : In July 2006, the San Francisco Chronicle published a
series of articles about transition compensation provided to
former CSU executives who were leaving their positions,
revealing previously secret compensation packages that included
transition pay, professorships and special benefits.
Specifically, the articles revealed that executives were
frequently granted transition pay as part of the CSU Executive
Transition Program, allowing a full year's pay without specified
duties. Several executives had begun other full-time positions
and still received CSU transition pay. Executives were also
provided "trustee professorships," although some executives
apparently did not assume teaching duties while receiving this
pay. Finally, these transition pay benefits were not disclosed
in public session and were not approved by the CSU Board of
Trustees.
In November 2006, the CSU Board of Trustees adopted changes to
its executive compensation transition program, (including
Trustee professorships), limiting eligibility for the transition
pay program to campus presidents and executives who intend to
return to an identified position with the CSU. Under the
Board's new policy, campus presidents and executives hired after
November
2006, who leave the CSU are not eligible for compensation if
they retire or if they are receiving any non-CSU income.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
AB 1413
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319-3960
FN: 0003313