Legislative Update

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

December 7, 2005

CAPITOL NEWS

1. New appointments in the Governor’s Office.

a. Finance Director. Governor Schwarzenegger announced the appointment last week of Michael C. Genest to serve as his Finance Director. Genest replaces former Congressman Tom Campbell in the position, who had agreed to serve in the job for a year, while on leave from UC Berkeley as the Dean of the University’s Haas School of Business.

Genest served as a budget advisor to Senate Republicans before being tapped by the Governor to serve as Chief Deputy Director of the Finance Department in 2003. He is assuming the top office at a particularly opportune time, when unexpected increases in state revenues have produced a sizeable--$5 billion--bulge in the state’s pockets. [See item 3 below.]

Reactions to the appointment have been positive. As reported in the Sacramento Bee, Assembly Member John Laird (D - Santa Cruz), who chairs the Assembly Budget Committee, said of Genest, “[He] is a strong conservative with a pragmatic streak. While I have often disagreed with Genest on issues that have to do with poor people, he’s got good skills at landing the plane. He knows we have to arrive at a budget, and that a budget is a series of compromises.”

Former Senate Republican (and Senate Minority Leader) Jim Brulte, commented that Genest was “someone who understands that a budget is not just a book with numbers in it. Mike understands that decisions about every individual program affect real live human beings throughout California.”

b. Chief of Staff. In an announcement that shocked Democrats and Republicans alike last week, Governor Schwarzenegger named Susan Kennedy as his Chief of Staff. Kennedy, a liberal Democrat, currently serves on the Public Utilities Commission, as an appointee of former Governor Gray Davis. Kennedy also served former Governor Gray Davis as his Cabinet Secretary and, prior to that, as Executive Director of the California Democratic Party when state Treasurer Phil Angelides was the Party Chair. Angelides is one of the Democratic candidates who will be challenging Schwarzenegger next year.

Reaction to the appointment was swift and diverse, with both positive and negative comments from individuals in both parties. Here’s a sampling:

From politicians and political consultants:

· Garry South, a political operative who worked with Kennedy as chief political consultant to former Governor Davis: “I think she’s one of the smartest people, literally, I’ve ever met in my life. The office [Governor Davis’] simply wouldn’t have run without her, in my view. She was one of the few people who could actually make decisions when he wouldn’t make them and get away with it--make them stick.”

· Daniel Weintraub, Sacramento Bee columnist: “I think the governor’s decision to hire Susan Kennedy as his chief of staff is a smart move. This administration has already been the most bipartisan, in terms of personnel and appointments, of any in recent times, despite significant spin to the contrary.”

· Mike Spence, President of the California Republican Assembly: “It’s a betrayal of everyone who was loyal to him during the special election. She embodies everything I have spent my life opposing. It obviously raises more problems and concerns about where he [Schwarzenegger] is headed next year. There is a list of things now where it appears we would have been better off if Gray Davis were governor.”

· Senator Dick Ackerman, Senate Minority Leader: “She was the wrong pick for chief of staff. First of all, she’s a Democrat, and a Republican should have a Republican chief of staff. And second, she was Gray Davis’ Cabinet secretary. She was there when a lot of his policy was being developed that led to his recall. Those aren’t the best credentials.”

· Rep. Darrell Issa (R - Vista): “I think it’s a move the governor needs to make because he has not had an efficient staff.” [Issa helped finance the move to oust former Governor Gray Davis.]

· Randy Thomasson, President, Campaign for Children and Families: “By placing a leading homosexual, pro-abortion Democrat activist in charge of his entire administration, Arnold has taken a disastrous turn to the left. This is like George W. Bush appointing Hillary Clinton to be in charge of his administration.”

· Former state Senator (and Senate Minority Leader) Jim Brulte: “If every member of Gov. Davis’ staff were as talented as Susan Kennedy, there wouldn’t be a Gov. Schwarzenegger in office today.”

From companies having business before the PUC:

· John Sumpter, Regulatory Affairs Director at Pac-West Telecomm Inc. in Stockton: “She was such a polarizing factor [on the PUC Board].”

· Jan Smutney-Jones, Executive Director, Independent Energy Producers Association: “Susan is very pragmatic and smart, and a person who can get things done. She is looking at trying to get California in the 21^st century from both a regulatory perspective and a technological perspective.”

· Timothy J. McCallion, President, Verizon’s Pacific region: “Kennedy has had a real sense for business and what drives investment and job creation. [Kennedy’s] support of Verizon’s effort to install high speed fiber-optic cable to homes has led to 1,300 new jobs in California.”

· Former PUC Commissioner Carl Wood, a supporter of the telecommunications “bill of rights” which Kennedy led the move to suspend last January without scheduling any hearings on the issue: “It’s an outrageous abuse of the process. This would represent the commission taking away rights from consumers without any process, without any hearings and without any notice.”

From Kennedy herself:

· Speaking about her work on the PUC: “I can’t believe how conservative, even right wing, I’ve become on these issues. [This is an] historic opportunity to change the political dialogue in this state and to get things done. So I’m tired of the partisanship, I’m tired of the intolerance that has resulted in gridlock, and I felt it was time for me as a Democrat to put up or shut up.”

Although Kennedy told reporters that she has never voted for a Republican, she supported and voted for all four of Governor Schwarzenegger’s reform measures on the Nov. 8 special election ballot.

When the Governor took office two years ago, he chose individuals from both parties, liberal and conservative wings, to fill the ranks of his administration. His hope was to approach the state’s complex problems in a bipartisan manner, obtaining the best thoughts and advice from as wide a base as possible. What he got instead was a cacophony of voices with no consensus. The resulting chaos moved the Governor increasingly to the far right, where he was persuaded his party’s base resided. Tipping the scale in one direction served to increase the gridlock with the Legislature and alienated large segments of the public service employees--police, fire fighters, teachers and nurses--as the Governor aggressively pursued four reform measures that proved to be very unpopular with voters. Their defeat appears to have moved the Governor to tip now in the other direction.

No one can complain that this Governor hasn’t tried multiple approaches to solve problems. He’s moved from the center to the far right to the far left. Only time will tell if he is speeding downhill in a car with no brakes.

2. Governor proposes a Paul Bunyan solution to the state’s infrastructure problems. The Susan Kennedy appointment wasn’t the only controversial announcement coming out of the Governor’s Office last week. He stunned members of both parties with his announcement of a super bond--$50 to $100 billion--to rebuild roads, freeways, and bridges throughout the state. The Governor’s proposal--if supported by the state Legislature and voters--would repair decades of neglect, begun under former Jerry Brown, whose philosophy of “less is more” put most of the state’s infrastructure projects on hold indefinitely.

Reaction, understandably, has been mixed. A political cartoonist portrayed the Governor undergoing a head transplant, replacing his own head with that of former Governor Pat Brown, called the master builder for spearheading the state aqueduct and freeway systems and the Master Plan for Public Higher Education.

Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said on his website that a $50 billion bond “would put the state’s debt ratio into the stratosphere,” especially following on the heels of the $15 billion debt consolidation bond approved by voters in March 2004, and $25 billion in state school bonds passed over the past three years.

A bipartisan group of legislators and lobbyists which has been working on transportation issues--specifically on how to ensure that the Proposition 42 gas tax revenues will be used for their intended purpose--is cautiously optimistic about the proposal. The group has suggested that, along with the dedication of existing Proposition 42 funds, a quarter-cent increase in the state sales tax and new port fees could produce $50 billion.

While the Governor’s moves during his two years in office have caused apoplexy in both political parties, he deserves credit for thinking boldly and outside the box.

3. State’s coffers bulging. Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill issued a projection of the state’s finances in mid-November which covered 2005-06 through 2010-11, indicating that the outlook has “improved considerably over the past year…due to a major increase in revenues and a significant amount of savings adopted in the 2005-06 spending plan.” As a result, Hill is forecasting that the current year will end with a reserve of about $5.2 billion, and a large carryover reserve that will “be more than sufficient to keep the state’s budget in balance in 2006-07 without any new program reductions.”

However, Hill cautioned that “while the improved fiscal outlook is clearly very good news, the state still faces major challenges in achieving an ongoing balance between revenues and expenditures and getting its fiscal house in order.” She projects a return to multibillion dollar operating deficits in 2006 - 07 which will continue through 2019 -11, unless the Legislature acts to cut spending. She also indicated that the deficits would deepen if the economy hits a downturn or if the Legislature adds new programs or increases funding in existing programs.

Hill’s November 16 report detailing her 5-year projection may be accessed at the LAO website: http://www.lao.ca.gov/2005/fiscal_outlook/fiscal_outlook_05.htm

4. Senate leadership changes. Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata has announced the following changes in Senate caucus leaders and committee chairs, effective January 1:

· Tom Torlakson (D - Antioch) replaces Kevin Murray (D - Los Angeles) as Democratic Caucus Chair

· Kevin Murray replaces Carole Migden (D - San Francisco) as Chair of the Appropriations Committee

· Carole Migden replaces both Richard Alarcon (D - Northridge) as Democratic Caucus Whip and Elaine Alquist (D - San Jose) as Chair of the Public Safety Committee

· Elaine Alquist replaces Joe Simitian as Chair of the Human Services Committee

· Joe Simitian (D - Palo Alto) replaces Alan Lowenthal as Chair of the Environmental Quality Committee

· Alan Lowenthal (D - Long Beach) replaces Tom Torlakson as Chair of the Transportation and Housing Committee

Senator Perata also announced the membership of the new Senate Select Committee on Higher Education:
Joe Simitian (chair), Elaine Alquist, Alan Lowenthal, Abel Maldonado (R - Santa Maria), and George Runner (R - Bakersfield).

The Legislature begins the second half of the current Biennial Session on January 4. With the 2006 primary and general elections looming, it promises to be colorful and tumultuous year.

5. Are Businesses Really Fleeing California? is the title of a recent publication issued by the Public Policy Institute of California, which presents the contrarian view that businesses are not leaving the state en masse. The PPIC also disagrees that relocation of businesses is a major cause of job losses. According to the report, “In any year from 1993 to 2002, [the period of time studied], the net job loss from business relocation was never higher than one-tenth of 1 percent of the total number of jobs. At this rate, it would take more than 10 years for California to lose 1 percent of its employment. Moreover, California was a net importer of jobs from certain states.”

Although the report acknowledges that the business climate in the state may be hostile to job growth, far more significant factors in employment change are “births and deaths and expansions and contractions of existing business establishments.”

The report concludes that public policy ought to be focused on stimulating the creation of new businesses and assisting existing businesses to survive and grow, rather than on preventing business relocation.

The complete report may be accessed on the PPIC website: http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=640

6. Los Angles Times to close Valley plant. In a sad and disheartening move, the paper continues its efforts to downsize and cope with declining ad revenues and circulation. A total of 110 jobs will be eliminated with the closure of the Chatsworth printing plant, adding to the earlier cut of about 300 jobs, mostly in the editorial ranks and news room, and mostly through attrition or voluntary separations.

The Chatsworth plant opened in 1983, at a time when the Chandlers still owned the paper and “Our Times” sections which focused on local news in various areas of the region were published. After the Chicago Tribune bought the company in 2000, all 14 of the “Our Times” editions were eliminated, and the focus was shifted to national and international news.

The Times isn’t the only newspaper to suffer continuing losses in circulation. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Jose Mercury News, and the Baltimore Sun have also announced cutbacks in staff and other cost-cutting measures, as they struggle to keep in the black and compete with web-based news sites.

The Chatsworth property will be sold, most likely to a developer. Bruce Ackerman, President and CEO of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, commented to the Daily News that the “huge parcel is a valuable asset and will make an incredible location for a manufacturer.”

7. The U. S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week on a lawsuit filed by a coalition of law schools against the Defense Department’s policies regarding military recruitment on college campuses. In an on-going dispute, dating back a decade, the coalition of 38 law schools is fighting a federal law known as the “Solomon Amendment,” which allows the federal government to withhold federal grant funds from any college or university that bars military recruiters from their campuses.

The coalition argues that the law restricts First Amendment rights by forcing universities to disseminate, if not promote, the military’s message, which includes discrimination against gays and lesbians.

The issue hinges on whether the universities’ ban on military recruiters constitutes speech or conduct. As described in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “That distinction is critical. If the court views the bans as speech…, then the Defense Department will have to prove that the law serves a ‘compelling government interest’ and is as narrowly tailored as possible. If it views the bans as ‘expressive conduct’--that is, conduct with elements of speech--then the Pentagon must prove only that its recruiting would be less effective without the law.”

Most of the Justices appeared to be unmoved by the coalition’s arguments, with the consensus reflecting Chief Justice John G. Robert’s observation that as long as the universities were free to criticize the military’s policy, there was no free speech issue. Only Justice David Souter appeared to support the coalition’s position, when he declared “If we’re going to address the Solomon Amendment, we’re addressing exclusively a First Amendment speech issue.”

The High Court is expected to hand down its ruling at the end of the current session, in July. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor participated in the arguments, but if her replacement, nominee Sam Alito, is confirmed before then, he will take her place in deciding the issue.

8. “Abuse of the Week,” as reported in StateNet’s Capitol Journal: “…a 30 year-old woman was arrested recently [in Louisiana] for abusing the 911 emergency phone system. Her crime: She dialed 911 after being served cold onion rings at a fast-food joint.”

9. Legislative Update bids farewell. With this edition, the newsletter will cease publication. I am retiring from the University at the end of December. Beginning as a student in 1961, I've been on campus for 44 of the 47 years of its existence! Legislative Update began on June 16, 1981 as a memo to former president James W. Cleary’s Cabinet. It has grown in length, expanded in format, and increased in circulation in the subsequent 24 years to its present-day look as a print publication and as an electronic newsletter on the Governmental Affairs website.

I have enjoyed writing and publishing this newsletter, and have delighted in the e-mails and letters I’ve received, both critical and complimentary. It’s been a wonderful association with my readers, and I’ll miss writing it. Despite its many problems, California is a wonderful, chaotic, forward-thinking and energetic state. Continue to dog our elected officials and demand action and accountability--and above all, always vote.

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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

November 10, 2005

CAPITOL NEWS

1. It was a NOvember 8 election for the Governor. Voters gave a thumbs down to all 8 of the ballot propositions. The two measures that the Governor had campaigned the hardest for, 76 (spending cap) and 77 (redistricting) lost by the significant margins:

Yes No

73 (Minor’s Pregnancy) 47.4% 52.6%

74 (Teacher Tenure) 44.9% 55.1%

75 (Public Union Dues) 46.5% 53.5%

76 (Spending Cap/Ed funding) 37.9% 62.1%

77 (Redistricting) 40.5% 59.5%

78 (Presc. Drugs: Discounts - 41.5% 58.5%
Industry proposal)

79 (Presc. Drugs: Discounts - 38.9% 61.1%
Consumer Grp proposal)

80 (Electric Utility Regulation) 34.3% 65.7%

Measure Y, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s facilities bond measure, did exceedingly well. To pass, the measure needed a 55% vote. It garnered nearly 66%, an astonishing number, given the widespread criticism that so frequently targets both the district and School Superintendent Roy Romer, and the district’s decreasing enrollment. (Enrollment dropped by 20,358 students this year, bringing the 688-campus district to a total of 697,980 students.)

Measure Y was interesting from a couple of different perspectives: The district did not campaign as intensively or extensively as it has in the past for its bond proposals, and newspapers and business organizations were unpredictable in their opposition and endorsements. The Los Angeles Times held its nose, but asked voters to support it. The Daily News editorialized vigorously against it. The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce endorsed the measure, while the Valley’s United Chambers of Commerce used blunt language to oppose it (No and hell, no.) The Board of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association made a motion to oppose the measure, but couldn’t obtain the required two-thirds vote to support the position and ended up with no position.

The final tally on Measure Y was 65.74% yes and 34.26% no.

In the 10^th and 14^th Los Angeles City Council districts, the only two with candidates’ races, the results were pretty much as expected. In both districts, a special election was being held to fill vacancies. In the 10^th District, Herb Wesson (former Assembly Speaker, who was termed out of the Assembly in 2004) easily beat his two opponents to win. He received 79.82% of the vote.

In the 14^th District, School Board Member Jose Huizar, the front-runner in a race with 9 other candidates, maintained his lead up to and including Election Day. He won with 54.38% of the vote. His closest competitor, former City Council Member Nick Pacheco (whom Antonio Villaraigosa defeated in 2004) received just 26.55% of the vote. Ironically, this race was being held to replace Villaraigosa, who vacated his City Council seat to run successfully for Mayor.

Voter turnout had been predicted at 42% by Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, and his prediction was pretty much on the money: About 41.5% showed up at the polls statewide. Voter turnout in Los Angeles County was 41%.

What value did this special election serve? It was enormously unpopular throughout the state. Voters were not convinced that a scheduled June election wouldn’t have sufficed. News reports of the high costs associated with the special election also bothered voters, as poll after poll demonstrated. When the dust settled, the cost to the state was $55 million, while the cost to campaigners on each side of the issues reached an incredible quarter billion dollars. Nothing was achieved for the money expended. None of the ballot measures was carefully or thoughtfully written. It’s likely that any that passed would have been challenged in the courts.

The election is over, and the problems remain. Wouldn’t it be grand if legislators from both parties and the Governor could vow to work together on the budget deficit, the crumbling infrastructure, education reform, and energy and water issues, and actually come up with a strategy to address them? The true value of this disastrous special election lies in whether it will provide the impetus to bring the warring sides together to work seriously and collaboratively on the problems that threaten to bring down this great state and deny its promise to future generations of Californians.

Both Senate President pro Tempore Don Perata (D - Oakland) and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D - Los Angeles) have suggested a bipartisan look at SCA 3 on redistricting, a measure that several nonpartisan groups believe could provide the basis for a fairer and more objective approach to the issue. The Governor took no position on the measure, which would establish an independent 7-member commission, appointed by a variety of legislative and non-legislative powers (including the University of California), and which specified that boundaries be drawn as they currently are, after each census. The Governor’s ballot measure, Proposition 77, would have redrawn district boundaries, making them effective immediately.

The issue of redistricting strikes at the core of partisanship. Let this issue be the first test of the resolve of legislative leaders and the Governor to work together for the good of the people of California.

2. Senator Carole Migden (D - San Francisco) steps down as chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. The stated reason was to devote more time to state Controller Steve Westly’s campaign for Governor. There is speculation, however, that she may have been assisted in her departure by the Democratic leadership, in response to heavy criticism aimed at her after she pressed an Assembly Member’s “yes” button on one of her bills that she had been lobbying on the Assembly Floor.

Assembly Member Guy Houston (R - Livermore) was not at his seat, when Senator Migden voted on his behalf for her bill, which sought to require cosmetic manufacturers to inform the state about any cancer-causing chemicals in their products. Houston’s vote was the 41^st, achieving the majority of votes needed to pass the bill. Unhappily for the Senator, Assembly Member Bob Huff (R - Diamond Bar) saw her do it. Huff reversed the vote, and the bill failed. (Migden later found another Democrat to support her bill, and it ultimately passed. The Governor approved it on October 7.)

The conceit of the Senator’s action continued to fester among Republicans, however. Although Migden’s chief of staff denied the Senator’s action had anything to do with the departure from her leadership post, most political observers believe otherwise.

3. A New Orleans newspaper reports that Democratic and Republican lawmakers are lobbying hard to make the city the site of the 2008 national party conventions. As reported in the Congressional Quarterly, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D - Maryland, “is urging his fellow Democrats to hold the party’s 2008 presidential nominating convention in New Orleans as a signal of national support for the city after its devastating losses from Hurricane Katrina.” Likewise, Rep. Bobby Jindal (R - Louisiana) “said he has already suggested to Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman that the party hold its 2008 convention in New Orleans.”

4. The beleaguered Kansas State Board of Education votes to embody “the controversy over creationism” in the state’s public school curriculum. The dispute between advocates of evolution and intelligent design theories has become a staple of the Board’s discussions at numerous meetings, with each side arguing to prohibit the other’s theories from being taught. The compromise--that schools “teach the considerable scientific and public controversy surrounding the origin of life”--was approved on a 6 - 4 vote. Neither side was satisfied, however, with scientists claiming that the “controversy” exists only in the minds of religious zealots, and creationists asserting that the “middle ground” is offensive to Christianity.

As reported in the Los Angeles Times, one board member said the vote made the panel the “laughingstock, not only of the nation but of the world.” Another declared that, “This is a great day for Kansas,” and that the decision “absolutely raises science standards.” Still another said, “I’m certainly not here to change anyone’s faith, but I wish you were not changing science to fit your faith” (referring to another Board member).

The new standards are advisory only. School districts are not required to adopt them.

Although Kansas has been the most visible battleground for this issue, four other states have adopted similar standards that encourage inquiries about the origin of life in the public school curriculum. Those states include Ohio, Minnesota, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, UC Berkeley is grappling with a lawsuit filed by the Pacific Justice Institute and Quality Science for All, which object to the University’s website, “Understanding Evolution.” The site includes comments from 17 different religious groups saying that evolution and a belief in a higher power are not mutually exclusive. The plaintiffs argue that a public, tax-payer supported institution cannot use taxpayer dollars to espouse a particular view of evolution. As reported in Education Beat, plaintiff Jeanne Caldwell, wife of the president of Quality Science for All, said that “There are many different religious views about evolution. How dare the government tell students which religious view is correct! This is propaganda, not education!”

UC counsel, Christopher Patti, told Education Beat that the lawsuit is without merit. “What you have here is a Web site that is assisting teachers in the teaching of scientific concepts. It does not advocate any particular religious views, but simply describes in a very straightforward way some of the issues that have arisen with the intersection of science and religion. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

According to Education Beat, the UC Berkeley professor who created the website said it typically gets about 40,000 visits a day. For those interested in accessing it, the address is: www.evolution.berkeley.edu

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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

October 14, 2005

CAPITOL NEWS

1. “Decline to State” voters continue to increase. The latest report on voter registration from the Secretary of State reveals a 2.3% increase in registered voters declining to state a party affiliation. The comparison is based on 60 days before the last statewide Special Election (October 7, 2003) and the upcoming one (November 8, 2005). The total number of voters in this category increased from 15.7% to 18.0%.

The number of eligible and registered voters has also increased:

Eligible Voters Registered Voters % Registration

2003 21,783,765 14,995,501 68.84%

2005 22,447,310 15,839,327 70.56%

Meanwhile, party registration has dropped. The number of voters registering as Democrats dropped from 44.1% to 42.8%, and the number of Republican registrants declined from 35.3% to 34.8%. The remaining 4.4% of voters belong to “Other” parties. Listed in the order of largest to fewest numbers, they include the American Independent (1.96%), Green (.93%), Libertarian (.53%), Peace & Freedom (.37%), and Natural Law (.15%) parties.

2. Laura Chick may enter the state Controller race. According to the political newsletter, CalPeek, Chick is “looking” but not yet “testing” the waters for a state Controller race in 2006. As Los Angeles City Controller, Chick has gained high name recognition for audits of city services she has conducted. Her audits of the Los Angeles World Airports and the Los Angeles Harbor raised questions about how contracts are awarded by both entities, resulting in two grand jury investigations into possible corruption by airport and harbor commissioners.

If she were to enter the race, it would be a free ride, since she won’t reach the end of her second term as City Controller until 2009. The filing deadline for major party candidates is March 10, 2006. The Primary Election will be held on June 6, 2006.

3.       U. S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings forms Commission on the Future of Higher Education. She stated that the charge to the new group will be to develop a “comprehensive national strategy” to optimally prepare the nation’s students “to compete in the new global economy.” The 19-member panel includes individuals from the higher education community, corporate America, and other government agencies:

·         Carol Bartz, Chairman and CEO, Audodesk, Inc.
·         Nicholas Donofrio, Executive Vice President for Innovation and Technology, IBM
·         James. J. Duderstadt, President Emeritus and Director of the Millennium Project, University of Michigan
·         Gerri Elliott, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector, Microsoft
·         Jonathan Grayer, CEO and Chairman, Kaplan, Inc. [a subsidiary of The Washington Post, and one of the country’s leading providers of educational and career services]
·         Kati Haycock, Director, The Education Trust
·         James B. Hunt, Jr., Chairman, Hunt Institute for Educational Policy and Leadership [and former Governor of North Carolina]
·         Arturo Madrid, Murchison Distinguished Professor of Humanities, Trinity University, Texas
·         Robert Mendenhall, President, Western Governors University [WGU is the country's only online competency-based university. It was created by the governors of 19 states as a non-profit university to expand access to higher education.]
·         Charles Miller, private investor; former Chairman, University of Texas System Board of Regents--who will serve as Chair of the Panel
·         Charlene R. Nunley, President, Montgomery College, Maryland
·         Arthur J. Rothkopf, Senior Vice President and Counselor to the President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; President Emeritus, Lafayette College, Pennsylvania
·         Richard Stephens, Senior Vice President for Human Resources and Administration, Boeing
·         Louis M. Sullivan, President Emeritus, Morehouse School of Medicine; former Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [under George H.W. Bush]
·         Sara Martinez Tucker, President and CEO, Hispanic Scholarship Fund
·         Richard Vedder, Adjunct Scholar, American Enterprise Institute; Professor of Economics, Ohio University
·         Charles M.Vest, President Emeritus and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
·         David Ward, President, American Council on Education
·         Robert Zemsky, Chair and Professor, the Learning Alliance, University of Pennsylvania

Scheduled to hold its first meeting on October 17 in Washington, D.C., the panel has already generated questions, many relating to the composition (why were students excluded? why the predominance of business leaders?), and concern that the group’s work will increase federal intrusion into higher education. Others criticized the timing, asking why establish this commission now, when reauthorization of the Higher Education Act has already heavily involved members of Congress and the higher education community in the same issues the panel will be addressing?

In response, Samara Yudof, spokesperson for the Department of Education, said that the panel will take “a much broader and more futuristic look at where the country needs to be 10 and 20 years from now.” Patrick M. Callan, President of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, commented, “There is a real need for the country to take stock of itself and where it needs to go in higher education, and this commission seems to be a promising vehicle for having that discussion.”

Detractors, such as Eugene W. Hickok, who left his Deputy Secretary position in the Department of Education last December, groused that, “In terms of influencing the higher-education process, it seems pretty slow to the gate.” And Travis J. Reindl, Director of State-Policy Analysis, American Association of State Colleges and Universities, offered, “They’re [Bush Administration] starting to think in terms of legacy because that’s what you do at this point in your term.”

The last federal commission on higher education was convened 8 years ago. Members of that panel, unlike the current one, were predominantly college administrators and heads of higher education associations. The report that eventually was produced, however, was criticized as too light in proposing change, and neither global nor farsighted enough in its perspective.

4. Education Reform on the Local Level. L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa rolled out plans this week for reforming the city’s public school system. While he began with a bold statement, indicating that the mayor should have “ultimate control and oversight” over the school system, he acknowledged his proposals were modest “first steps.” Based on ideas from the 30-member Council of Education advisors he appointed in late July, the proposals range from safety improvements, such as moving bus stops away from dangerous streets and creating “centers of tolerance” at racially troubled campuses, to improving student learning by inviting adult mentors to work with students at underperforming schools.

The Mayor said he had consulted widely throughout the City on the issue of taking over the school district. The recommendation from all quarters was that the task was too Herculean, given the powerful unions and the breadth of problems. The consensus was not to pursue a takeover, but instead to look at ways government could work with the school district to improve it.

5. On a lighter note. From the California political newsletter StateNet: A team of high school cheerleaders performed a critical public service in Michigan recently. They and their coach were in a vehicle traveling down a main thoroughfare when they witnessed a hit-and-run driver cause a chain reaction of accidents involving multiple cars and injuries. The coach noted the driver’s license plate number--and shouted it out to his team, who promptly turned it into a cheer so as to be able to remember it for the police. The driver was ultimately apprehended, thanks to the coach’s quick-thinking and his cheerleaders’ acumen. StateNet notes that the driver “was not so cheerful about being the subject of so cheerful a cheer."

* STATUS OF PREVIOUSLY INTRODUCED LEGISLATION *

AB 13 (Goldberg) Racial Athletic Team Names and Mascots

This bill would establish the Racial Mascots Act, which would prohibit public schools from using the term Redskins as a school or athletic team name, mascot, or nickname.

Status: Vetoed by the Governor, September 2005.

[In his veto message, the Governor said in part, “I vetoed a nearly identical bill last year because it added another non-academic state administrative requirement, thereby diverting focus from increasing student academic achievement. Administrative decisions regarding athletic team names, nicknames or mascots should be retained at the local level.]

AB 58 (Nunez) K-University Facilities Bond Act

Enacts the K-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2006, which authorizes issuance of state general obligation bonds in an unspecified amount for the purpose of constructing new, and repairing and refurbishing existing, facilities at the state’s public schools, colleges and universities.

The act would become operative only if approved by the voters at the November 7, 2006, statewide general election.

Status: This bill was introduced on December 6, 2004 and referred to the Assembly Education Committee, where it was subsequently designated as a 2-year bill.

AB 76 (Frommer) Office of Pharmaceutical Purchasing

This bill would establish within the California Health and Human Services agency the Office of Pharmaceutical Purchasing to serve as the purchasing agent for prescription drugs for the CSU, and for any other state agency as directed by the Governor, that may elect to participate in the purchasing program.

Status: Vetoed by the Governor, October 7. [In his veto message, the Governor cited cost and questioned the advisability of moving a process already being performed by the Department of General Services to a newly created program in a different agency, which “does not currently have any purchasing functions, capacity or resources.”

The Governor did acknowledge, however, that the concepts in the legislation ought to be pursued, and directed “the Department of General Services to investigate and implement options and strategies to achieve the greatest savings possible on prescription drugs and undertake the following activities to the extent they are feasible and would help control prescription drug costs: Identify opportunities for DGS, University of California, and the California Public Employees Retirement System to coordinate procurement information, consolidate drug procurement or engage in other joint activities that will result in cost savings.”]

AB 165 (Dymally) CSU: African-American Political Institute

Existing law authorizes the CSU, until January 1, 2010, to establish an African American Political and Economic Institute at CSU, Dominguez Hills. Existing law also expresses legislative intent that the institute be funded by grants and contributions from private sources. Use of General Fund and Lottery monies, student fee revenues and other state resources, to support the institute is strictly prohibited. Existing law additionally specifies that if any state monies are utilized, they are to be fully reimbursed by the institute from grants or private sources.

An earlier amendment authorizing redirection of state funds to support the Institute, if funds were appropriated in the annual Budget Act for that purpose, was deleted.

Status: Signed by the Governor, September 29. [Chapter # 384, Statutes of 2005]

AB 196 (Liu) Postsecondary Education: Accountability

This bill would charge the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) with developing and administering an accountability structure for the state’s system of postsecondary education.

Status: PASSED [9 - 2] by the Senate Education Committee and sent forward to the Senate Appropriations Committee, June 22, and placed on Suspense there on August 16--making the legislation a two-year bill.

AB 529 (Goldberg) CSU: Disability Retirement

This bill would allow CSU employees who are denied a request for reasonable accommodation for disability to make appeals regarding disability retirement to the State Personnel Board (SPB).

Status: Vetoed by the Governor, September 29.

[In his veto message, the Governor stated, “Employees of California State University (CSU) who believe they have been wrongfully denied reasonable accommodation for a disability so that they can return to work have access to the formal complaint procedures established by CSU. They also have available other avenues to file a complaint through the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing or the federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission or they can file a grievance through their union. This issue may also be addressed through bargaining under the Higher Education Employee Relations Act. This bill undermines the collective bargaining process.”]

AB 593 (Frommer) State Property: California Hope Endowment

This bill would implement state Treasurer Phil Angelides’ proposal for selling unneeded state property and depositing the proceeds into a trust, the revenue from which would be used to improve access to California’s public universities and colleges. [Note: Prior amendments deleted CSU and its properties from use by the endowment.]

Status: Vetoed by the Governor, October 7. [In his veto message, the Governor said voters, by passing Proposition 60A last year, preferred using revenue generated by the sale of surplus property to pay off the debt accrued from the Economic Recovery Bonds. He added, in part, “As worthy an intention as providing additional funding for higher education may be, it is the Administration’s objective to prioritize reducing the State’s debt first, before initiating new programmatic spending.

Even more troubling, the Governor indicated, is that “this bill would delegate important decisions regarding the allocation of state resources to a new entity, unaccountable to the people, operating outside of the annual budget process, without an expressed mandate from the people of California.”]

AB 702 (Koretz) Nursing Education

This bill would require the Statewide Health Planning and Development Office to establish the Health Professions Education Foundation for the purpose of providing financial assistance in the form of scholarships or loans for the educational costs of registered nurses or graduates of associate degree nursing programs who agree to serve in underrepresented areas. The bill would allow the Office to provide financial assistance to students who are seeking a master’s or doctorate degree in nursing.

In order to receive a scholarship or loan repayment for a master’s or doctoral degree program, the registered nurse and student must commit to teaching nursing in a California nursing school for 5 years.

Status: Signed by the Governor, October 6. [Chapter # 611, Statutes of 2005]

AB 706 (Parra) CSU: Reporting of Improper Governmental Activities TRUSTEE BILL

This bill adds language to the Education Code that CSU employees be free to report on improper governmental activities to a designated CSU administrator with the same shield to identity protection and confidentiality that is afforded to those disclosing improprieties to the State Auditor.

Status: Signed by the Governor, September 22. [Chapter # 310, Statutes of 2005]

AB 708 (Karnette) CSU: Whistleblower Protection

This bill, sponsored by the California State Employees Association, also relates to the California Whistleblower Protection Act, as it applies to the CSU. A June amendment removed the mandate for an independent investigator. The bill now authorizes, rather than requires, the CSU to employ independent investigators on complaints, if the system determines it is in the institution’s best interest.

The bill would specifically authorize the CSU to employ an independent investigator on all complaints alleging reprisal, retaliation, threats, coercion, or similar improper acts against an employee for having made a protected disclosure. The bill would also require the independent investigator’s report to be subject to the procedures adopted by the CSU.

Status: Vetoed by the Governor, September 22.

[In his veto message, the Governor stated in part, “This bill is substantively similar to one I vetoed last year. It is unnecessary because it is redundant with current procedures already implemented by the California State University (CSU).”]

AB 961 (Committee on Higher Educ.) CSU: Omnibus bill TRUSTEE BILL

Each legislative session, the CSU sponsors “omnibus legislation” containing non-controversial and/or technical changes to various California Codes of Law. The bill contains three proposals:

(1) Protection of Subcontractors in Design-Building Contracting. This provision seeks to conform the protections of the Subletting and Subcontracting Fair Practices Act to the “design-build” approach the CSU uses in its construction projects.

(2) Auxiliary Board Meetings. Under the California Corporations Code, the Board of Directors of a nonprofit organization is required to meet annually in every year in which directors are to be elected. However, the Education Code requires auxiliary organization governing boards of the CSU to meet at least quarterly. Since it is unclear which standard applies to CSU auxiliary organization governing boards, this provision seeks to amend the Education Code to require them to meet “at least annually.”

(3) Sale of Real Property: CSU Channel Islands Lemon Orchard. Prior legislation authorized the CSU to exchange a portion of the 258-acre lemon orchard parcel in Camarillo for a parcel of land adjacent to the CSU, CI campus. In this provision, CSU is seeking the authority to sell the property to assist the campus in constructing a better campus entrance as well as building athletic fields and parking lots for students, faculty, and staff.

Status: Signed by the Governor, September 22. [Chapter # 318, Statutes of 2005]

AB 1088 (Oropeza) UC, CSU, CCC: Mandatory Orientation for New Students

This bill seeks to require the CSU and the California Community Colleges, and to request the UC, in collaboration with campus and community-based victim advocacy organizations, to provide, as part of established campus orientations, educational and preventive information about sexual violence to all incoming students.

Campuses without existing orientation programs would be required to post on their website educational and preventive information about sexual violence to all students.

Status: Signed by the Governor, October 7. [Chapter # 647, Statutes of 2005]

AB 1452 (Nunez) UC, CSU: Admissions Policies

This bill would authorize the UC and the CSU to consider race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, geographic origin, and household income, along with other relevant factors, in undergraduate and graduate admissions, so long as no preference is given when the university or other entity is attempting to obtain educational benefit through the recruitment of a multi-factored diverse student body.

Status: PASSED [48 - 28] by the Assembly and sent forward to the Senate, June 2. Referred to the Senate Education and the Senate Judiciary Committees, June 15, where it was designated as a two-year bill.

AB 1646 (Committee on Higher Educ.) UC, CSU, Community Colleges: Admission of Non-citizens

This bill is an “omnibus bill” for the community colleges, addressing largely minor technical matters.

As most recently amended, AB 1646 also addresses an issue that affects all three systems of public higher education: The bill repeals a provision of California law that “prohibits a public higher education institution from admitting, enrolling, or permitting the attendance of any person who is not a citizen of the United States, an alien lawfully admitted as a permanent resident in the United States, or a person who is otherwise authorized under federal law to be present in the United States.” This provision was declared invalid by a federal court, making repeal necessary.

Status: Signed by the Governor, October 7, 2005. [Chapter # 654, Statutes of 2005]

ACR 93 (Bogh) California Economic Literacy Week

This Assembly Concurrent Resolution designates the week of October 24, 2005, through October 28, 2005, as California Economic Literacy Week, and would urge Californians to observe these days by working for a better understanding of our economic system.

Status: Adopted by both houses of the Legislature, September 8 and Chaptered by the Secretary of State on September 19. [Resolution Chapter # 143]

SB 569 (Torlakson) CSU, UC: Alumni Programs TRUSTEE BILL

CSU and UC are joint sponsors of this bill, which would allow the Trustees and Regents, campus alumni associations, and auxiliaries to offer benefits and services to members through affinity programs such as those offered by California nonprofit organizations and private colleges and universities.

Status: Signed by the Governor, October 4. [Chapter # 498, Statutes of 2005]

SB 661 (Migden) California Student Athlete Fair Opportunity Act of 2005

The bill would establish the California Student Athlete Fair Opportunity Act of 2005, and require the CSU to ensure that all of its campuses that provide athletic scholarships for student athletes also provide summer athletic scholarships, commencing with the 2006 summer term.

The bill would further require the CSU to ensure that all of its campuses that are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have a comprehensive plan for the academic support of student athletes.

The CSU would be required to report, with prescribed data, on the athletic academic progress and athletic academic support for all campuses that are members of the NCAA. The reports must be submitted biennially to the Legislature and the Governor on or by November 1 of each odd-numbered year, commencing in 2007.

Status: Signed by the Governor, October 5. [Chapter # 552, Statutes of 2005]

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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

September 22, 2005

CAPITOL NEWS

1. Hurricane Katrina recovery costs set record in disaster spending. The Christian Science Monitor reports that “Spending tied to hurricane Katrina has hit as much as $2 billion per day, or about 10 times the amount the United States is spending on military operations in Iraq.” The article predicts that the total costs could exceed $150 billion, which, “spread out over the next couple of years would roughly match the $6 billion a month being spent in Iraq.”

The magnitude of the costs has Congress rethinking earlier spending decisions. Conservative House Republicans released their proposal this week for offsetting the costs. The plan includes cutting the pork in the recently approved federal transportation bill; reducing funding for Amtrak; lowering foreign aid (amounts and countries not specified); eliminating NASA’s moon/Mars initiative; canceling support for PBS; postponing for one year implementation of the new Medicare prescription drug program--and charging federal employees for parking, which the plan estimates will produce $1.54 billion. (How many federal employees are there?)

Authors of “Operation Offset” estimated that the plan could produce savings of $139 billion in one year, $544 billion over 5 years, and $1.2 trillion over 10 years.

The wrapping was barely off the proposal, though, before bipartisan critics began picking it apart. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R - Texas) called reductions in the transportation bill a “non-starter,” and in a statement prepared by his office, said, “My earmarks are pretty important to building an economy in that region [his district].” DeLay also objected to delaying the Medicare program.

However, Rep. Mike Pence (R - Indiana), in a statement to the Washington Times, said that his House colleagues need to take “a really hard look [at delaying implementation of the drug program], which would put $40 billion back into the federal budget.” Pence also told ABC’s “This Week” that, “We simply can’t allow a catastrophe of nature to become a catastrophe of debt for our children and grandchildren…. We simply cannot break the bank of the federal budget that is currently running about an $8 trillion national debt, about $26,000 per family.”

Other Republicans warmed to the proposal, indicating that it would allow moving ahead with their planned tax cuts. Still others commented that some of the proposed cuts would move to the back burner, such as repealing the estate tax and making permanent earlier tax reductions.

Democratic response was less focused on the proposed reductions than it was on accountability for federal spending authorized thus far. House Democrats expressed concerns about fraud and abuse, and recommended establishment of a special commission to monitor and oversee expenditures.

2. Higher Education spending could also be affected by hurricane Katrina offsets. The American Association of State Colleges and Universities sent alerts to its members warning that, “The impact of the hurricane…will have a dramatically negative impact on the education budget, specifically on pet programs like Pell grants, for years to come.” The Association pledged to “continue to work with the appropriations staff to retain the paltry $50 increase in this year’s [Pell] award, but this may prove to be a Herculean task.”

The House has passed its version of the bill reauthorizing the Higher Education Act last July. The Senate Education Committee approved its version last week, and the bill will go before the full Senate shortly. The bills will then go to a conference committee, comprised of members of both houses, to reconcile the differences and produce a single bill for the President’s signature. Generally speaking, the Senate version is more favorable to students and to the higher education associations than the House bill--particularly in the area of student financial aid. For example, the Senate bill would authorize an increase in the Pell Grant maximum award from the current $4,050 to $5,100 by the 2006-07 academic year. The House bill authorizes only a $50 increase.

Other provisions in the Senate version include raising the income cutoff for automatic eligibility for the maximum Pell Grant from $15,000 to $20,000; allowing Pell Grant recipients to use their awards year round (as opposed to the current limit of 9 months, reflecting a traditional academic year calendar to which many campuses no longer adhere); providing an additional $1 billion over 5 years to fund grants up to $1500 a year for low-income students who major in math, science or foreign languages deemed to be “critical to the national security of the United States;” permitting the U. S. Secretary of Education to reduce the fees students must pay to obtain loans from 4% to “no less than 1% and not more than 3%” of the amount borrowed; and increasing the amount of money that first- and second-year students may borrow from the federal student-loan programs. In regard to the last provision, current loan limits for freshmen and sophomores are $2,650 and $3,500 respectively. The Senate bill would increase these amounts to $3,500 and $4,500 respectively.

Some members of Congress have suggested reducing or eliminating these increases and/or cutting into existing funding levels in order to produce more revenue to address the 3 most pressing federal fiscal problems: Federal spending for Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq, and the increasing deficit.

Other members of Congress have suggested that the current Higher Education Act, which is set to expire at the end of September, be extended for three months, to give lawmakers who are distracted by the after effects of Katrina time to focus on those issues. An earlier proposal to extend the Act for 6 months was defeated, and the chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Rep. John Boehner, has pledged to produce a reauthorization bill by the end of the year.

3. Katrina’s other impacts. Students displaced by the hurricane, and campuses virtually destroyed by it, have been affected in myriad ways:

· Foreign students who fled their flooded campuses find themselves not only out of classes, but in danger of being forced to leave the country for visa violations. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been slow to relax its rules governing foreign nationals enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities. Current regulations require that students must enroll at another campus within 30 days of the original start date of classes, or else leave the country. The regulations also require that these students take a full course load and not work off campus. They are also limited to taking only one on-line course a semester.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that, in response to questions about whether any of the rules would be relaxed, Jamie E. Zuieback, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [housed within Homeland Security] indicated that her agency “will review each case on a case-by-case basis,” and that the agency’s “goal is to ensure that students can continue their studies in the United States.”

· Tuition refund policies of New Orleans-area universities anger parents of displaced students. According to the websites of Loyola University-New Orleans and Tulane University, students who plan to return to these campuses are being advised to pay their fall tuition because, regardless of where they attend college this semester, they are still Tulane or Loyola students. Tulane’s website states that payment of tuition allows the university and other campuses similarly forced to close for the fall “to maintain their long-term viability without having to deplete their endowments and other resources.”

Students are being advised that their tuition payments will be credited to the spring semester, or refunded if they decide not to return to the university in the spring.

In response to complaints that deadlines for tuition refunds were set too early for displaced students desiring to withdraw, both Tulane and the University of New Orleans have now extended their withdrawal deadlines to November 1.

· Controversy has erupted over the handling of research animals. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has sent letters to the Louisiana Attorney General, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Louisiana State University system Chancellor charging officials at the University’s Health Sciences Center with cruelty to animals for abandoning “thousands of animals who drowned, suffocated, starved, or died of dehydration in its laboratories” during the storm. The letters ask, variously, for the dismissal of the officials heading the Center and the University Medical Center, and for the University Medical Center to be denied any federal funds to rebuild its animal labs.

All of the Health Sciences Center’s 8,000 experimental animals died or were euthanized, including rhesus monkeys belonging to the University’s Vice President for Academic Affairs, who, according to the Chronicle’s account, was among the last to evacuate.

Charles F. Zewe, a spokesman for the Louisiana State University system, told the Chronicle that the system doesn’t plan to take any actions in regard to PETA’s accusations. The paper said that no one from the state Attorney General’s office, the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Department of Health and Human Services was available to comment on PETA’s letters to them.

However, spokespersons at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and at Tulane University did comment on the destruction of decades of scientists’ lifework, which at Tulane included invaluable blood samples from a heart study that had been tracing heart disease in thousands of people since 1972, as devastating, and irreplaceable losses.

At Southern Mississippi University, a group of 26 bush babies, described as small primates with bushy tails and big eyes, were put in harm’s way by Katrina. Sheree L. Watson, a psychology professor at the University, whose research involved studying these animals, checked on them the day after the hurricane, using a chain saw to clear the driveway of her home and some of the roads along the 10 mile route from her home to the research center. Because the storm knocked out the power, the ventilation system wasn’t functioning. Professor Watson made 3 to 4 trips a day to air out the facility. Knowing that she would soon be out of food and water for the primates, she phoned colleagues for help in evacuating the animals, leaving voicemails on phones that had long since been abandoned. A week later, workers from FEMA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture helped her transport the animals in her car and a van to the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State University, Starkville--3 ½ hours away.

4. Just when you thought the worst was over. Hurricane Rita, as I write this newsletter, is bearing down on Galveston, Texas. Universities that had taken in hundreds of displaced students from New Orleans-area campuses, now find themselves evacuating these students and their own students. The evacuees, now seasoned migrants, provided moral support.

Among the evacuees at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston were 100 medical students, displaced from the medical school at Tulane University. In a moving account in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Justin Lafrenier, a third year medical student, offered this advice to his fellow students: “You get good at realizing that nothing is permanent, and you have to just roll with the punches.”

5. At the local level, CSUN efforts to accommodate displaced students and to raise money for relief and recovery continue. The CSU system has enrolled several hundred students throughout the 23 campus system. At CSUN, the campus received 67 inquiries and admitted 61 students, of whom 16 actually enrolled. Fundraising efforts among students, faculty, and staff have netted thus far about $85,000.

6. Senator Sheila Kuehl signals interest in running for Secretary of State. Kuehl opened an account for the position to begin raising money for a possible race. If she does toss her hat into the ring, she would face Senate colleague, Debra Bowen (D - Marina del Rey). Bowen is termed out of her Senate seat in 2006, while Kuehl’s term expires in 2008. While it is assumed incumbent Bruce McPherson will be running as the GOP candidate, he has not yet filed papers to raise contributions.

7. State Finance Director Tom Campbell resigns. Campbell, who was appointed last December 1 to the position by Governor Schwarzenegger after incumbent Donna Arduin left two months earlier, resigned in order to campaign for two of the Governor’s reform initiatives on the November 8 Special Election ballot. The Governor’s reform package actually includes 3 measures, one relating to reducing the time to tenure for K-12 teachers, from 2 to 5 years, one concerning budget reform, and one designed to transfer responsibility for redistricting from the Legislature to a panel of retired judges. Campbell will be spearheading the campaign on the latter 2 initiatives.

After the Special Election, Campbell will not be returning to the Governor’s staff, but will be returning to his former position as Dean of the Haas School of Business at UC, Berkeley. Campbell took a year’s leave of absence to become the Director of Finance, a vantage point from which he could communicate the Governor’s budget reform proposals to the Legislature and to the public.

Replacing Campbell in the interim will be Michael C. Genest, who has a long history of state service. Genest served in the Department of Social Services for many years until the Governor appointed him as Undersecretary of the Health and Human Services Agency in 2003. Most recently he’s been on loan to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as Acting Director of Support Services.

8. Twilight Zone entry. This item comes from StateNet Capitol Journal. A school boy in Lansing, Michigan, was not allowed to get bottled water from the school cafeteria when he bought his lunch. He was offered milk or juice to purchase--or he could fill his thermos with tap water at one of the school’s water fountains. But he could only buy water in the cafeteria…if he had a note from his doctor. Makes one wonder what is in that water!

9. Report of Legislative actions. In the bill updates below, actions are reported as of September 9, when the Legislature adjourned until next year. Governor Schwarzenegger has until October 9 to sign or veto bills. The next issue of Legislative Update will be published after that date, to capture the final disposition of all of the bills followed in 2005.

* NEW LEGISLATION OF INTEREST *

Note: Bills must be in print for 30 days before a committee may hear them.

ACR 93 (Bogh) California Economic Literacy Week

Introduced: August 30, 2005

* STATUS OF PREVIOUSLY INTRODUCED LEGISLATION *

AB 13 (Goldberg) Racial Athletic Team Names and Mascots

This bill would establish the Racial Mascots Act, which would prohibit public schools from using the term Redskins as a school or athletic team name, mascot, or nickname.

Status: Sent to Senate Inactive File, on a motion made by Senator Sheila Kuehl, August 15. [Note: The recent NCAA ban on the use of American Indian mascots in NCAA championship competitions made this bill moot.]

Never say die, however: The bill was resurrected and was subsequently PASSED [22 - 15] by the Senate on September 8. It was sent to the Governor on September 19. [Note: Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill, authored by Assembly Member Goldberg, last year.]

AB 76 (Frommer) Office of Pharmaceutical Purchasing

Status: Sent to the Governor, September 15. [Note: The CSU opposed this bill, and asked the author to exempt the system from its provisions. The author declined to do so, believing the action to be moot, in light of signals from the Governor’s Office that he will veto the bill.]

AB 196 (Liu) Postsecondary Education: Accountability

This bill would charge the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) with developing and administering an accountability structure for the state’s system of postsecondary education.

AB 529 (Goldberg) CSU: Disability Retirement

This bill would allow CSU employees who are denied a request for reasonable accommodation for disability to make appeals regarding disability retirement to the State Personnel Board (SPB).

Status: Sent to the Governor, September 15.

[Note: Both the CSU and the Department of Finance (DOF) opposed this bill. The latter stated in its opposition letter--a view with which the CSU agrees--that, “This bill would add a second right of appeal for CSU employees, despite the fact that the Board of Trustees has already promulgated programs and procedures to resolve these issues. While the State Personnel Board may play a legitimate role in setting policies, investigating complaints and adjudicating claims for civil service employees, its role should not be extended to include CSU employees.”

CSU has asked the Governor to veto the bill.]

AB 593 (Frommer) State Property: California Hope Endowment

Status: Sent to the Governor, September 19.

AB 706 (Parra) CSU: Reporting of Improper Governmental Activities TRUSTEE BILL

Status: Sent to the Governor, September 8.

AB 708 (Karnette) CSU: Whistleblower Protection

Status: Sent to the Governor, September 9.

[Note: CSU initially opposed this bill, believing that AB 706 above, and existing law and CSU Executive Orders, provide adequate protection for whistleblowers. The system was not persuaded that employing an external investigator would provide a better process. With the June and August amendments, CSU has removed its opposition to the bill.]

AB 720 (Villines) CSU: Observance of Veterans Day

Existing law prescribes the holidays--among them, Veterans Day--in California for state agencies, public schools and the community colleges. Existing law authorizes the CSU Trustees to provide, by rule, for the holidays to be observed by CSU employees.

In the case of seven of these holidays, the Trustees are permitted to reschedule observance of the holiday to another day consistent with the needs of the campus or systemwide offices. Veterans Day is one of the holidays in this category.

This bill would remove Veterans Day from this category and require every CSU campus to observe it as a holiday by closing on that day--except when the holiday falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, when it would then be observed on the preceding Friday or on the following Monday, respectively.

Status: Signed by the Governor, August 30. [Chapter 146, Statutes of 2005]

AB 918 (Wyland) CSU: Recognition of Career Technical Education Courses

As initially written this bill would have required all CSU campuses to recognize, for the purpose of admissions and grade point average calculations, career technical education courses in those subject matter areas in which majors are offered within the State University system, provided that these career technical education courses meet or exceed the relevant state approved standards.

The bill was gutted and rewritten on September 2 to pertain instead to resident classification for members of the armed forces. Specifically, this bill would eliminate the one-year limitation on resident classification for active duty members of the armed forces stationed in this state who are graduate students, and for the natural or adopted child, stepchild, or spouse who is a dependent of an armed forces member stationed in California on active duty.

Included in the September 2 amendments is a provision reversing the law that exempts undocumented aliens from paying out-of-state tuition.

Status: In its original version, the bill was PASSED [6 - 0] by the Assembly Higher Education Committee, April 5; PASSED [18 - 0] by the Assembly Appropriations Committee; and PASSED on the Assembly Consent Calendar, May 5.

The bill was sent to the Senate Education Committee, where it remains and where it will likely die--given the Democratic majorities in both Houses and the fact that the law exempting illegal aliens from paying out-of-state tuition was authored by a Democrat (AB 540, former Assembly Member Marco Firebaugh, 2002).

AB 961 (Committee on Higher Educ.) CSU: Omnibus bill TRUSTEE BILL

Each legislative session, the CSU sponsors “omnibus legislation” containing non-controversial and/or technical changes to various California Codes of Law. The bill contains three proposals:

Status: Sent to the Governor, September 2.

AB 1088 (Oropeza) UC, CSU, CCC: Mandatory Orientation for New Students

Campuses without existing orientation programs would be required to post on their website educational and preventive information about sexual violence to all students.

Status: Sent to the Governor, September 13.

AB 1646 (Committee on Higher Educ.) UC, CSU, Community Colleges: Admission of Non-citizens

This bill is an “omnibus bill” for the community colleges, addressing largely minor technical matters.

Status: Sent to the Governor, September 14.

SB 569 (Torlakson) CSU, UC: Alumni Programs TRUSTEE BILL

Status: Sent to the Governor, September 13.

SB 724 (Scott) CSU: Doctoral Degrees TRUSTEE BILL

This bill seeks to authorize the CSU to award the Doctor of Education degree and prescribe standards for the awarding of that degree.

As most recently amended, the bill would additionally require the CSU, the Department of Finance, and the Legislative Analyst’s Office to jointly conduct, in accordance with prescribed criteria, a statewide evaluation of the Ed.D programs implemented under