BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 2705 (Williams) - Community Colleges: Part-time Faculty
Amended: August 5, 2014 Policy Vote: Education 4-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No. See staff comments.
Hearing Date: August 11, 2014
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2705 amends various provisions in the Education
Code related to the California community college (CCC) faculty
and change the references from "part-time" and "temporary"
faculty to "contingent" faculty. This bill also requires the
Employment Development Department (EDD) to issue a new field
office directive for purposes of determining eligibility for
unemployment insurance benefits that reflects the substitution
of the term "contingent faculty" for the terms "part-time
faculty" and "temporary faculty," as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
Collective bargaining: Unknown, but potentially significant
local costs, to the extent that this bill requires community
college districts (CCDs) to reopen and revise collective
bargaining agreements to reflect these statutory changes.
These costs may be deemed reimbursable, as part of the
existing collective bargaining program mandate. Costs would
likely be minor for each of the 72 CCDs but, if deemed
reimbursable, they would likely exceed $100,000 (General
Fund) statewide.
Classification ambiguity: Unknown potential costs could
result from referring to part-time and temporary faculty as
"contingent faculty" in certain, but not all, statutes
governing their classification, hiring, duties, and roles.
Field directive: Minor and absorbable workload for the EDD
to issue the field directive.
Background: Existing law defines "faculty" as those employees of
a CCD who are employed in academic positions that are not
designated as supervisory or management, as specified. Faculty
include, but are not limited to, instructors, librarians,
counselors, CCC health services professionals, handicapped
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student programs and services professionals, and extended
opportunity programs and services professionals. (Education
Code � 87003)
Existing law defines any person who is employed to teach adult
or CCC classes for not more than 67% of the hours per week
considered a full-time assignment for regular employees having
comparable duties to be classified as a temporary (part-time)
employee. (EC � 87482.5 and � 87882)
Existing law also requires the governing board of a CCD to
employ faculty for the first academic year of his or her
employment by contract. Any person who, at the time an
employment contract is offered, is neither a tenured employee of
the CCD nor a probationary employee, as specified, is deemed to
be employed for "the first academic year of his or her
employment." A faculty member shall be deemed to have completed
his or her first contract year if he or she provides service for
75% of the first academic year. (EC � 87605)
Proposed Law: This bill replaces the terms "part-time" and
"temporary" faculty with "contingent" faculty in various
provisions of the Education Code, related to CCC faculty. This
bill also makes various legislative findings and declarations
regarding the terms "part-time faculty" and "temporary faculty"
compared to "contingent faculty."
This bill also requires the EDD to issue a new field office
directive for purposes of determining eligibility for
unemployment insurance benefits that reflects the substitution
of the term "contingent faculty" for the terms "part-time
faculty" and "temporary faculty" in the Education Code by this
bill, and specifies that the directive shall be consistent with
the holding of the Court of Appeals in the case of Cervisi v.
Unemployment Ins. Appeals Bd. (1989) 208 Cal.App.3d 635.
Staff Comments: This bill changes the terminology in certain
Education Code sections, renaming "temporary" and "part-time"
CCC faculty "contingent faculty." Education Code sections 87481
and 87482, which govern the employment of part-time and
temporary faculty, continue to identify them as such. The impact
of inconsistent references to these faculty members is unclear,
but could potentially both impact collective bargaining
agreements and invite litigation.
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Simply renaming "temporary" and "part-time" CCC faculty
"contingent faculty would, at a minimum, require all CCDs to
revise their local collective bargaining agreements to reflect
the changes. The staff time to review and revise documents could
be deemed reimbursable. If the parties disagree about when to
use "contingent faculty" and when to use "part-time faculty" or
"temporary faculty" in the agreement (especially in light of
inconsistency in the code sections), there will be additional
costs to renegotiate contracts, and negotiation costs are
currently reimbursable under the existing mandate.
This bill's requirements for the EDD to issue a new field office
directive, as specified, is consistent with the action the EDD
would take (absent this specific statutory requirement) when any
relevant employment term is changed, and would result in minor
workload for the department.