BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1215
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 5, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Anthony Portantino, Chair
AB 1215 (De La Torre) - As Introduced: February 27, 2009
SUBJECT : Community colleges: temporary and part-time faculty.
SUMMARY : Allows the California Community Colleges (CCC) to
hire temporary part-time clinical nursing faculty to teach up to
67%, rather than 60%, of the hours per week that constitute a
regular full-time faculty assignment, and clarifies that in the
case of conflicts with existing collective bargaining
agreements, this bill will only apply to those contracts upon
their expiration, amendment, or renewal.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : Background : Legislation was enacted in recent years
that changed the number of hours and semesters that part-time
CCC faculty can teach.
1)AB 591 (Dymally), Chapter 84, Statutes of 2008, allows CCC to
hire temporary part-time employees to teach up to 67%, rather
than 60%, of the hours per week that constitute a regular
full-time faculty assignment. A full-time teaching load for
each discipline is negotiated by the local CCC district;
however, on average a full-time load is 15 units. Increasing
the threshold to 67% enables part-time faculty who teach four-
and five-unit classes (e.g., science, mathematics, and
language) to teach an additional class in a particular
community college.
2)SB 1309 (Scott), Chapter 837, Statutes of 2006, enacted an
array of initiatives and established new programs to address
the nursing shortage in California, including exemptions from
existing CCC employment laws, to allow clinical nursing
faculty to be employed by a CCC district as a temporary
faculty member, as specified, for up to four semesters
(instead of two semesters) within any three consecutive years
until June 30, 2014. This change was designed to help CCC
districts retain their clinical nursing faculty, which is
essential for CCC to increase nursing enrollments and produce
more nurses.
AB 1215
Page 2
Need for this bill : AB 591 did not include part-time CCC
clinical nursing faculty because these employees are referenced
under another code section; thus, these employees cannot teach a
67% workload.
Suggested amendment : In order to avoid similar problems in the
future, the author may wish to cross reference the code section
(Education Code section 87482.5) that governs part-time faculty,
instead of conforming the percentages to that section.
Other legislation : Similar provision are included in SB 511
(Committee on Education), pending in the Senate, which is an
omnibus code clean-up measure. AB 492 (Conway), which is set
for hearing in this Committee on May 5, 2009, would allow
temporary CCC clinical nursing faculty to teach an unlimited
number of semesters or quarters within any consecutive
three-year period.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Health Facilities
California Community Colleges, Chancellor's Office
California Nurses Association
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960