Assembly Bill 1413 (Portantino) a bill that proposes to make several statutory changes to the governance and operations of the university is on its way to the Senate Floor. The CSU is making every effort to defeat this legislation, which is being carried at the request of the California Faculty Association (CFA), and is looking ahead and planning for the possibility of it reaching the Governor’s desk.

While the bill makes several changes, most importantly AB 1413 would allow the four ex-officio officers of the Board of Trustees (BOT) - Governor, Lt. Governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Speaker of the Assembly to not attend meetings and instead send staff designees to vote in their place.

This proposed change makes a significant difference in the manner in which the BOT does business during meetings, and would significantly alter the dynamic of the voting membership by allowing ex-officio’s of the Board to send these proxies.

The proposal is concerning because AB 1413 only applies to the CSU and this change will likely result in ex-officio members sending staff members rather than attending in person and fully participating in the governance of the largest public university system in the world. Ex officio members would likely attend UC Regents meetings since they are still required to attend to cast votes and influence board decision making.

Research conducted by the Association of Governing Boards and the Senate Education Committee staff have failed to find any other university or university system in the United States that allows proxies to vote on behalf of their ex-officio member on their boards. AB 1413 would put into place an unprecedented policy that no other university in the nation has done before or seen its effectiveness as a result.

The CSU along with the University of California is currently working together to coordinate the dates of future Board of Trustee and UC Regents meetings in order to avoid any conflicts or overlaps in the dates. The CSU argues that this change and coordination in calendaring will address the concerns put forth by this legislation and should alleviate the scheduling and attendance problems for constitutional officers.

The CSU believes if this proposal passes the result would be a disruption of the Board governance with the participation of staff designees rather than the state constitutional officers. This Board works on many significant issues relating to the running of the state university system and this change in voting membership would result in jeopardizing the effective governance of this great system including important matters in closed sessions including collective bargaining, personnel matters and litigation.

The CSU is preparing for the end of session and the possibility that this measure may find its way to the Governors desk, therefore the university is requesting that campuses and individuals begin writing letters to Governor Schwarzenegger requesting his veto of this legislation.

These letters should be prepared and sent to the CSU Advocacy and Institutional Relations office for hand delivery if the measure passes the legislature. Please forward all letters to the CSU Advocacy and Institutional Relations Office, Attention: Michele Perrault, 915 L Street, Suite 1160, Sacramento, CA 95814 or email them to mperrault@calstate.edu or fax to 916-322-4719.