Sacramento – Assemblymembers Anthony Portantino (D - La Cañada Flintridge), Chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, and Julia Brownley, Chair of the Budget Sub-committee on Education, today announced the introduction of AB 1413 (Portantino & Brownley) and a budgetary funding commitment that will bring much needed reforms in the governance of all 23 California State University campuses.

In the past year, many press accounts have detailed California State University (CSU) policies and practices related to executive compensation.  Investigative reporting revealed previously secret compensation packages that included transition pay, professorships and special benefits that are clearly excessive, especially in light of budget deficits that have plagued California in recent years.

"I was deeply concerned about CSU compensation abuses when the press revealed these issues last summer.  AB 1413 will restore public trust in our system by giving the Legislature a voice on the Board of Trustees, open up future meetings on executive compensation, and eliminate any suggestion of impropriety in one of the nation’s finest public higher education institutions,” said Assemblymember Portantino.  “At a time when student fees have gone up and budgets have been cut, sacrifices must be made by all parties, including the trustee executives, to ensure our institutions remain strong for future generations.”

AB 1413, among other provisions, contains the following reforms of the CSU Governance process:

• Preventing secret agreements --- AB 1413 requires the Board of Trustees to approve all executive contracts in public session, revealing all benefits, not just salary and housing as is now the practice.
• Building a bridge between elected officials and the CSU system --- This bill expands the CSU Board of Trustees from 16 members who are all appointed by the Governor, to 18 members, as well as allowing ex-officio members to designate someone to attend meetings on their behalf.  The additional two members would be legislative appointments, permitting the Senate and Assembly to each make one appointment.
• Eliminate questionable compensation practice of “ghost professorships” – AB 1413 requires CSU executives who are paid for professorships to actually teach if given this designation. Additionally, that compensation cannot exceed the amount a full-time professor in the CSU system would be paid for similar teaching duties.
• Public Accountability --- In order for the public to know where its scarce resources are being spent, AB 1413 requires regular reporting from the California Postsecondary Education
• Commission detailing the funding levels of its employees.

 “Transparency is essential to good, balanced government.  Leaders at California’s public universities should be compensated adequately and competitively but we should do this proudly and in public. This legislation will ensure that all executive benefits are made public, not just salary and housing as is the current practice,” stated Brownley.  “The priorities are upside down when a handful of top administrators are receiving record raises at the same time that faculty are struggling to negotiate fair contracts and students are being hit with tuition increases.  We can’t have good teachers wondering whether they can afford to keep teaching, or our young people seeing the door to their futures closing on them.”

John Travis, president of the California Faculty Association, said, “The CSU faculty is extremely grateful for Assemblyman Portantino’s leadership on this issue. It affects more than 400,000 students and over 23,000 faculty members in California.

Travis added, “The CSU Board of Trustees have lost touch with the mission of the CSU, which is to provide an affordable and quality education to every eligible student in California. This legislation authored by the Assemblymembers would demand accountability and ensure California taxpayers that student instruction is the priority in the Board’s decision-making process.”