State Pay Ceiling to be Considered in Legislature (but not for UC)

A bill - SB1368 - that would impose a ceiling on pay of state employees of about $174,000 (the governor's salary) is being reviewed at a state senate hearing today. The bill, introduced by a Republican state senator, does not apply to UC but would apply to CSU.  It appears to have been sparked by pay offered to presidents at various CSU campuses.

Even though UC is exempted, thanks to its constitutional position, any such enactment would have an indirect effect on UC pay.  The bill in fact "recommends" that UC adhere to the pay ceiling.

A news report on the bill can be found at:
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/29/4374427/the-state-worker-linking-state.html

The bill itself is at:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/sen/sb_1351-1400/sb_1368_bill_20120224_introduced.pdf

There is likely to be testimony that this ceiling is not a good idea:

UPDATE: Inside Higher Ed has produced tables of faculty pay based on AAUP data. Note that average UCLA pay for full profs is not all that far from the $174,000 proposed ceiling and, of course, an average means that there is a distribution with some well above the average. Note also that private universities are not the targets of such proposed ceilings.  Excerpt below:

Top Private Universities in Faculty Salaries for Full Professors, 2011-12

University	Average Salary
1. Harvard University	$198,400
2. Columbia University	$197,800
2. University of Chicago	$197,800
4. Stanford University	$195,400
5. Princeton University	$193,800
6. New York University	$182,400
7. University of Pennsylvania	$181,600
8. Yale University	$180,400
9. Duke University	$175,300
10. California Institute of Technology	$172,800

Top Public Universities in Pay for Full Professors, 2011-12

University	Average Salary
1. New Jersey Institute of Technology	$166,600
2. University of California, Los Angeles	$162,600
3. University of California, Berkeley	$154,000
4. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor	$148,800
5. Rutgers University at Newark	$146,000
6. Rutgers University at New Brunswick	$145,000
7. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	$144,000
8. University of Maryland at Baltimore	$142,600
9. University of Texas at Dallas	$142,400
10. Rutgers University at Camden	$141,800

 Full article at: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/04/09/aaup-releases-faculty-salary-data