BILL ANALYSIS
SB 190
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 18, 2007
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mark Leno, Chair
SB 190 (Yee) - As Amended: May 22, 2007
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote: 7-0
Governmental Organization 14-0
(Consent)
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill places additional open meetings requirements on the
Board of Regents of the University of California (UC) and the
Trustees of the California State University (CSU). Specifically,
this bill:
1)Clarifies that all meetings of the CSU Trustees and its
standing and special committees to be subject to the
Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
2)Subjects, to Bagley-Keene requirements, advisory groups, study
groups, or task forces of the Regents or the Trustees if the
group includes one or more regents or trustees (other than
ex-officio members), has a continue subject matter
jurisdiction or regular, and was created by the board, a board
member or committee, or the office of the UC President or CSU
Chancellor. Exempts from this requirement committees and
advisory groups whose purpose is to recruit executives for the
UC or CSU.
3)Requires actions taken by committees of the Regents or
Trustees and final action by the full Board of Regents or
Board of Trustees on specified executive compensation
proposals to occur in open session, requires full disclosure
and rationale for each compensation package, and requires an
opportunity be afforded for public comment.
4)Requires discussions of an action on executive compensation
programs and policies to occur in open sessions of the Regents
SB 190
Page 2
and the Trustees, and defines compensation to include salary,
benefits, perquisites, severance payments, retirement
benefits, or any other form of compensation.
FISCAL EFFECT
UC estimates minor annual costs of around $35,000 associated
with additional open meetings, such as for notices, published
agendas, minutes, and arranging for facilities compliant with
the Americans with Disabilities Act. CSU's annual costs could be
of a similar magnitude.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Bagley-Keene requires meetings of state bodies,
including the CSU, to be open and public, and requires state
bodies to publish a specific agenda and notice of each meeting
at least 10 days in advance of the meeting. Under
Bagley-Keene, a congregation of a majority of members of a
state body at the same time and place to hear, discuss, or
deliberate upon any item that is within the subject matter
jurisdiction of the body constitutes a meeting that must be
open and noticed. Bagley-Keene requires meetings of advisory
committees to be open and noticed only if the committees
consist of three or more persons and are created by formal
action of the body or any member of the body.
2)Purpose . According to the author, existing law does not
specify that the CSU Board of Trustees and its subcommittees
must conduct actions on executive compensation in open
session. Nor does existing law require full disclosure of the
compensation package and rationale for such compensation. The
author also seeks to require advisory committees that are not
covered by Bagley-Keene to conduct their meetings in open
session. CSU is concerned that these new requirements will
discourage trustee participation in advisory groups, thus
leaving the committees potentially less informed.
3)Prior Legislation . A similar bill, AB 775 (Yee) of 2006, which
applied only to UC, was held on the Senate Appropriations
Suspense file. AB 775 required both committee and full board
discussions concerning executive compensation to occur in open
session.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
SB 190
Page 3