Will There Be an Overflow from the CSU Executive Pay Issue to UC?

The Sacramento Bee features a story today about legislative moves to cap executive pay at CSU. As noted in a prior blog posting, the CSU board raised pay of an incoming campus president by $100,000 while approving a tuition increase. UC is mentioned in the excerpt below. In principle, the Regents have constitutional autonomy although the legislature sometimes ignores it or writes bills that impose something on CSU and urges UC to follow.

From kitchen tables to Capitol offices, two decisions California State University trustees made earlier this week have left Californians seething.

…And now lawmakers are tapping into the outrage. At least three state legislators are working on bills that would curb executive pay at CSU. Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, has drafted Senate Bill x1-25, which would prevent CSU from giving administrators raises above 10 percent in any year the university increases tuition for students. It would include sitting executives and new hires.

…Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, who wrote a letter to CSU trustees this week asking them to rescind the $100,000 increase, said he plans to introduce his own bills on the matter next month. One would say CSU can't increase administrator salary when there is a tuition increase or for two years following. Another would place a cap on how much CSU can pay its executives, tying it to "some rational compensation level," Lieu said.

…Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, wants to reintroduce a bill he wrote last year that would prevent CSU from giving executives raises in any year state funding decreases, said his spokesman Adam Keigwin.

…Gov. Jerry Brown doesn't typically comment on legislation until he acts on it. But a letter he wrote to CSU trustees this week may be giving legislators some hope for their bills. On Tuesday morning, the day of their vote, Brown asked trustees to reconsider plans to pay Elliot Hirshman, the new San Diego State president, a $400,000 salary.

…Hirshman's salary makes him the highest-paid campus president in the CSU system and tops his salary at his last job as provost of University of Maryland, Baltimore County by $133,000.

…University of California regents also met this week. They too raised tuition on the same day they gave some executive raises. The UC Student Association issued a statement criticizing the $27,500 raise for Vice President Patrick Lenz. But generally the UC decisions have not sparked the outcry that has ricocheted about CSU. That may be because two of the executives who got raises this week are paid by UC's hospital system. And Lenz, who is paid by state funds, got a raise of 10 percent…

Full story at http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/16/3773608/lawmakers-move-to-cap-csu-executive.html

There can be an overflow of such issues from CSU to UC, leaving a mess: