BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1691
AUTHOR: Ammiano
AMENDED: March 23, 2010
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 16, 2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Daniel Alvarez
SUBJECT : Trustees of the California State University and
the Regents of the
University of California: meetings.
KEY POLICY ISSUE
Would better oversight of the CSU Board of Trustees (BOT)
occur if ex officio members of the CSU BOT are permitted to
designate a person to represent them in their absence? Even
if this designee is prohibited from voting or attending
closed sessions?
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes ex officio members of the California
State University (CSU) Board of Trustees, except for the CSU
Chancellor, to designate a non-voting representative, as
specified, to attend CSU BOT meetings in the ex officio
member's absence.
BACKGROUND
Existing law (Education Code 66600 et. al.) establishes the
California State University (CSU) administered by a Board of
Trustees comprised of:
16 Governor appointees, each serving an eight-year term,
confirmed by two-thirds of the Senate.
One (1) alumni association representative selected by
the alumni council, as specified, serving a two-year
term.
One (1) CSU faculty representative appointed by the
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Governor, serving a two-year term.
Two (2) 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.
Five (5) 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.
The California Constitution establishes the University of
California (UC) as a public trust administered by the Regents
of the University of California (Regents). The Constitution
grants the Regents full powers of organization and
government, subject only to such legislative control as may
be necessary to insure the security of its funds, compliance
with the terms of university endowments, other procedures as
specified (Article IX, Section 9): The Regents consist of:
18 Governor appointees, each serving a 12-year term,
confirmed by a majority of the Senate.
One (1) student appointed by the Regents to a one-year
term.
Seven (7) voting ex officio members -- the Governor,
Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the Assembly,
Superintendent of Public Instruction, the president and
vice president of the Alumni Association of UC and the
acting UC president.
Two (2) faculty members -- the chair and vice chair of
the Academic Council - sit on the board as non-voting
members.
ANALYSIS
This bill authorizes ex officio members of the CSU Board of
Trustees to designate an officer or member of the same office
or elective body of the member to attend CSU Trustee meetings
in the ex officio member's absence. In addition, the bill:
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1) Specifies who may be designated to represent ex officio
members of the CSU Trustees as follows:
a) Governor: A secretary of an executive agency
appointed by the Governor.
b) Lieutenant Governor: A member of the
California Senate.
c) Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI):
An elected county superintendent of schools.
d) Speaker of the Assembly: A member of the
California Assembly.
2) Prohibits a designated representative from (a) voting on
behalf of an ex officio member, (b) being counted as a
member of the board for purposes of establishing a
quorum, or (c) attending closed sessions of the CSU BOT.
3) Specifies that an ex officio member of the CSU Trustees
may designate only one person in a calendar year to
attend a meeting or meetings in the
ex officio's absence.
4) States legislative intent that each ex officio member of
the Regents designates a person to attend a meeting or
meetings of the regents in the member's absence.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author's office,
conflicts in meeting schedules for the CSU Board of
Trustees and the UC Regents make it difficult for ex
officio members who serve on both boards to attend both
meetings. Allowing ex officio members to appoint
representatives to attend for them will provide better
oversight of these institutions.
2) Existing practice allows for sending representatives .
By authorizing ex-officio members to send a designee to
participate in meetings on their behalf, this bill
grants ex officio members a privilege regular members do
not have. Given that ex officio members may already
send representatives to attend any and all open meetings
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of the Trustees and Regents and speak on their behalf
during public comment periods, it is not clear how this
bill will improve board oversight.
3) By virtue of the office . The California Constitution
and state law designates specific state-elected
officials as ex officio members of the UC Regents and
CSU Trustees respectively in order to allow these
elected leaders to share their perspective in the
formulation of system policy. By virtue of the office
they hold, these elected officials bring their unique
perspective and experience to the policy and governance
discussions of these boards and provide a means for the
executive and legislative branches of government to
monitor and, through public deliberation, participate in
the actions of the these governing boards. Staff notes
that it is not clear that the perspectives of the ex
officio office holders will continue to be represented
should this bill be enacted.
4) Accountability - use of ex officio designees . While the
bill requires designees to be from the same office or
same elective body, the specified designees are
accountable to different constituencies than the ex
officio members. Agency secretaries serve at the
pleasure of the Governor and are not directly
accountable to the voters; a member of the Senate is
accountable to voters in his or her district, but not
voters statewide as is the Lieutenant Governor; and a
member of the Assembly will represent a different
district than the Speaker of the Assembly. Does this
matter?
5) University of California and the measure's application .
The State Constitution (Article IX, Section 9) provides
the UC Regents with the full power of organization and
government. In addition, the constitution specifies the
ex officio members of the Regents, therefore calling
into question the ability of an ex officio Regent. It
would seem that a reasonable argument could be made that
the Regents under "power of government and organization"
could allow for ex officio members to designate a person
to represent them.
However, Section 2 of this bill, if vague by stating
legislative intent for the Regents, to the extent
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allowed by the State Constitution, to "designate a
person to attend a meeting or meetings of the regents in
the member's absence." If the author's intent is to
request UC apply the same standard as being developed in
this measure for CSU, then the bill should be amended to
provide such direction. Staff recommends an amendment
to reference the designees for the same five ex officio
members.
6) Meeting schedules and conflicts . The UC and CSU
governing boards have six standing meetings per year.
The UC and CSU have worked together to coordinate
meeting schedules to make it easier for ex officio
members to attend both meetings.
In 2010, only the first day of the July Regents' meeting
conflicts with meeting of the Trustees. However, in
2011 (a) the first day of the July Regents' meeting
conflicts with meeting of the Trustees, and (b) two days
of the November Regents' meeting conflicts with the
entire CSU Trustees' meeting.
7) Previous legislation . In 2009, AB 690 (Ammiano, 2009)
would have allowed ex officio members to designate a
staff person to attend Trustee meetings in his / her
absence. AB 690 passed out of this Committee on a 5-1
vote and was vetoed by the Governor. In his veto
message, the Governor stated:
"?ex officio members serve by virtue of their
experience and qualifications in sharing their
perspective on issues impacting higher education.
Allowing these members to appoint a substitute to
attend in their absence creates a disincentive for the
member to actually attend the meetings, and diminishes
the value of an ex-officio member's contribution to the
public discourse."
8) Prior and related legislation . In addition to AB 690 -
AB 1413 (Portantino,
2007) and AB 2339 (Negrete McLeod, 2004), which were also
vetoed by the
Governor, contained provisions identical or
substantially similar to this bill.
9 Policy arguments .
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Proponents argue that by allowing each of the
publicly elected ex officio members to appoint an
alternate from the same elected body to represent
them when they are unable to attend meetings is a
reasonable accommodation to help ensure full
transparency and accountability in our public
university systems.
Opponents contend that allowing absent ex
officio members to send designees to attend in
their place would negate the importance of having
ex officio members in the first place. The reason
these members are on these governing boards is so
the boards have the benefit of their input and on
significant issues of university governance.
SUPPORT
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(sponsor)
OPPOSITION
California State University.