BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 1515 (Yee) - California State University (CSU) Board of
Trustees Membership.
Amended: May 2, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 6-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 24, 2012 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: SB 1515 modifies the membership of the CSU Board
of Trustees.
Fiscal Impact:
CSU system: Potential costs of $92,000 - $164,000,
annually, to replace the faculty member and represented
staff salaries during their 8-year terms.
CSU campuses: Potentially significant costs to augment
the salary (above what the system contributes) of a
replacement faculty member.
Background: Under existing law, the CSU Board of Trustees is
comprised of 25 members, as follows:
1) 5 ex-officio members: (a) the Governor, (b) the Lieutenant
Governor, (c) Speaker of the Assembly, (d) the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, and (e) the
Chancellor of the CSU.
2) 16 Governor appointees confirmed by the Senate, each with
8-year terms.
3) 1 alumni association representative, appointed by the
Governor to a 2-year term.
4) 1 tenured CSU faculty representative appointed by the
Governor to a 2-year term, as specified.
5) 2 CSU students appointed by the Governor to 2-year terms,
as specified.
Proposed Law: This bill reduces the number of gubernatorial
appointees requiring Senate confirmation, from 16 to 14. It
requires that, of the 14 appointive members, one must be a
faculty member and one must be a represented permanent
SB 1515 (Yee)
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nonacademic employee at the CSU. Additionally, this bill:
1) Increases the required number of students, from 2 to 4, to
be appointed.
2) Prohibits faculty and nonacademic employee members from
sitting on a collective bargaining subcommittee of the
board.
3) Requires faculty and nonacademic employee members be
employed by the CSU for at least 2 years and at the time of
appointment.
4) Specifies that if a faculty member appointment is vacant
for more than 2 board meetings, the Academic Senate shall
vote to select an interim faculty member, if a nonacademic
employee member appointment is vacant for more than
twoboard meetings, the CSU Labor Council shall vote to
select an interim nonacademic employee member member.
Staff Comments: This bill would reduce the number of "general"
Governor appointees to the Board of Trustees, and would increase
specific types of appointees. The Governor can already make
faculty and represented employee appointments to the Board of
Trustees; this bill requires those appointments.
CSU practice is to replace faculty members in the classroom who
are on the Board of Trustees, for the duration of their terms.
The CSU system contributes $57,000 (the cost of an assistant
professor) per year toward the classroom replacement cost and,
if the campus hires someone for a salary above that amount, the
campus pays the difference. Adding a faculty member to the Board
of Trustees would incur these same costs.
According to the CSU, the system would also have to buy out the
represented staff member's time, as well. Those costs would
depend on the type of employee appointed to the Board of
Trustees. Represented staff annual salaries range from $35,000 -
$107,000, depending upon the position that he or she held when
appointed.
Staff notes that because the Governor can already appoint
faculty members and represented staff to the Board of Trustees
as general appointees, the CSU would incur and absorb these
costs if the Governor did so, absent this bill.
SB 1515 (Yee)
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