Bill Text: CA SCA15 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: University of California: retirement benefits.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-04-01 - Withdrawn from committee. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. [SCA15 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SCA15-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: SCA 15	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Yee
   (Coauthor: Senator Cannella)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Gray and Nestande)

                        JULY 10, 2013

   A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California
an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending Section 9
of Article IX thereof, relating to the University of California.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCA 15, as introduced, Yee. University of California: retirement
benefits.
   The California Constitution establishes the University of
California as a public trust with full powers of organization and
government, as provided, and administered by the Regents of the
University of California, subject only to the legislative control
necessary to ensure the security of its funds and compliance with the
terms of the endowments of the university.
   The California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013
(PEPRA), on and after January 1, 2013, requires a public retirement
system, as defined, to modify its plan or plans to comply with the
act and, among other provisions, establishes new retirement formulas
that may not be exceeded by a public employer offering a defined
benefit pension plan, setting the maximum benefit allowable for
employees hired on or after January 1, 2013.
   This measure would, for an officer or employee of the University
of California first hired on or after the effective date of this
measure, make any retirement plan of the University of California
subject to the provisions of PEPRA and any subsequent statutory
enactment amending that act or enacting or amending a successor act.

   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.



   Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 2013-14 Regular Session
commencing on the third day of December 2012, two-thirds of the
membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of
the State of California, that the Constitution of the State be
amended as follows:
    That Section 9 of Article IX thereof is amended to read:
      SEC. 9.  (a)  (1)    The University of
California shall constitute a public trust, to be administered by the
existing corporation known as "The Regents of the University of
California," with full powers of organization and government, subject
only to such legislative control as may be necessary to insure the
security of its funds and compliance with the terms of the endowments
of the university and such competitive bidding procedures as may be
made applicable to the university by statute for the letting of
construction contracts, sales of real property, and purchasing of
materials, goods, and services. Said corporation shall be in form a
board composed of seven ex officio members, which shall be: the
Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, the president and the vice
president of the alumni association of the university and the acting
president of the university, and 18 appointive members appointed by
the Governor and approved by the Senate, a majority of the membership
concurring; provided, however that the present appointive members
shall hold office until the expiration of their present terms. 
   (2) For those officers and employees first hired on or after the
effective date of this subdivision, any retirement plan of the
University of California shall be subject to the California Public
Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (Article 4 (commencing with
Section 7522) of Chapter 21 of Division 7 of Title 1 of the
Government Code) and any subsequent statutory enactment amending that
act or enacting or amending any successor act. 
   (b) The terms of the members appointed prior to November 5, 1974,
shall be 16 years; the terms of two appointive members to expire as
heretofore on March 1st of every even-numbered calendar year, and two
members shall be appointed for terms commencing on March 1, 1976,
and on March 1 of each year thereafter; provided that no such
appointments shall be made for terms to commence on March 1, 1979, or
on March 1 of each fourth year thereafter, to the end that no
appointment to the regents for a newly commencing term shall be made
during the first year of any gubernatorial term of office. The terms
of the members appointed for terms commencing on and after March 1,
1976, shall be 12 years. During the period of transition until the
time when the appointive membership is comprised exclusively of
persons serving for terms of 12 years, the total number of appointive
members may exceed the numbers specified in the  preceeding
  preceding  paragraph.
   In case of any vacancy, the term of office of the appointee to
fill such vacancy, who shall be appointed by the Governor and
approved by the Senate, a majority of the membership concurring,
shall be for the balance of the term for which such vacancy exists.
   (c) The members of the board may, in their discretion, following
procedures established by them and after consultation with
representatives of faculty and students of the university, including
appropriate officers of the academic senate and student governments,
appoint to the board either or both of the following persons as
members with all rights of participation: a member of the faculty at
a campus of the university or of another institution of higher
education; a person enrolled as a student at a campus of the
university for each regular academic term during his service as a
member of the board. Any person so appointed shall serve for not less
than one year commencing on July 1.
   (d) Regents shall be able persons broadly reflective of the
economic, cultural, and social diversity of the State, including
ethnic minorities and women. However, it is not intended that
formulas or specific ratios be applied in the selection of regents.
   (e) In the selection of the Regents, the Governor shall consult an
advisory committee composed as follows: The Speaker of the Assembly
and two public members appointed by the Speaker, the President Pro
Tempore of the Senate and two public members appointed by the Rules
Committee of the Senate, two public members appointed by the
Governor, the chairman of the regents of the university, an alumnus
of the university chosen by the alumni association of the university,
a student of the university chosen by the Council of Student Body
Presidents, and a member of the faculty of the university chosen by
the academic senate of the university. Public members shall serve for
four years, except that one each of the initially appointed members
selected by the Speaker of the Assembly, the President Pro Tempore of
the Senate, and the Governor shall be appointed to serve for two
years; student, alumni, and faculty members shall serve for one year
and may not be regents of the university at the time of their service
on the advisory committee.
   (f) The Regents of the University of California shall be vested
with the legal title and the management and disposition of the
property of the university and of property held for its benefit and
shall have the power to take and hold, either by purchase or by
donation, or gift, testamentary or otherwise, or in any other manner,
without restriction, all real and personal property for the benefit
of the university or incidentally to its conduct; provided, however,
that sales of university real property shall be subject to such
competitive bidding procedures as may be provided by statute. Said
corporation shall also have all the powers necessary or convenient
for the effective administration of its trust, including the power to
sue and to be sued, to use a seal, and to delegate to its committees
or to the faculty of the university, or to others, such authority or
functions as it may deem wise. The Regents shall receive all funds
derived from the sale of lands pursuant to the act of Congress of
July 2, 1862, and any subsequent acts amendatory thereof. The
university shall be entirely independent of all political or
sectarian influence and kept free therefrom in the appointment of its
regents and in the administration of its affairs, and no person
shall be debarred admission to any department of the university on
account of race, religion, ethnic heritage, or sex.
   (g) Meetings of the Regents of the University of California shall
be public, with exceptions and notice requirements as may be provided
by statute.   
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