The state assembly has passed, and the state senate is considering a constitutional amendment - ACA 6 - that would be put to voters regarding labor standards for UC. A senate committee rejected the amendment on Monday, but will reconsider it. If the amendment were to pass the committee on reconsideration, it would go to the full senate and require a two-thirds vote there to go to the ballot.
Below is a digest and the full text:
ACA 6, as amended, Haney. University of California: basic state labor standards.
Digest
The California Constitution provides that the University of California constitutes a public trust, and requires the university to be administered by the Regents of the University of California, a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes. These provisions grant the regents all the powers necessary or convenient for the effective administration of its trust.
This measure would require employees of the Regents of the University of California to have the right to, and be covered by, certain basic state labor standards, as provided. The measure would require individuals who perform certain work for the regents to have the right to the payment of a prevailing wage. The measure would authorize the Legislature to enact laws that further these rights, establish, define, or specify the basic state labor standards applicable to the regents, or establish other health, safety, and labor protections for individuals performing work for the regents.
Bill Text
WHEREAS, California did not have basic state labor standards in place when Section 9 of Article IX of the California Constitution (hereafter “Article IX”) was amended in 1879 to constitute the University of California as a public trust; and
WHEREAS, Despite the California Supreme Court previously holding in San Francisco Labor Council v. Regents of the University of California (1980) (26 Cal.3d 785, 789-790) that “it is well settled that general police power regulations governing private persons and corporations may be applied to the university” and that state legislation “may be made applicable to the University when the legislation regulates matters of statewide concern,” and despite the fact that the Legislature has adopted such laws, the University of California has continually taken the position that Article IX excludes hundreds of thousands of Californians who work or perform work for the University of California from basic state labor standards that apply to all other California employers; and
WHEREAS, Some intermediate California courts have held that Article IX excludes Californians who work or perform work for the University of California from some basic state labor standards that apply to all other California employers; and
WHEREAS, Every California worker should have the same basic state labor standards, including equal pay standards, payment of a minimum wage, overtime pay, timely payment of wages, payment of a prevailing wage, and restrictions on outsourcing of jobs; and
WHEREAS, The outdated nearly 150-year-old exclusion of basic state labor standards for Californians who work or perform work for the University of California can be changed only by amending Article IX by a vote of the People of California; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California at its 2023–24 Regular Session commencing on the fifth day of December 2022, 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:
First— This measure shall be known, and may be cited, as the Basic Labor Standards at the University of California Act.
Second— That subdivision (h) is added to Section 9 of Article IX thereto, to read:
(h) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) and unless otherwise provided by a state law, employees of the Regents of the University of California shall have the right to, and shall be covered by, the following basic state labor standards as they apply to employees of the state on or after January 1, 2025:
(A) Equal pay standards, including those established pursuant to the California Equal Pay Act and California Fair Pay Act of 2015.
(B) The payment of a minimum wage.
(C) The timely payment of wages.
(D) The payment of overtime and standards governing the hours of work.
(E) Occupational safety and health standards.
(F) Meal and rest breaks.
(G) Paid leave, including paid sick leave.
(H) Standards against displacement and contracting out of work as provided for in state laws governing the nonemergency use of personal service contracts by the state.
(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) and unless otherwise provided by a state law, individuals who perform work for the Regents of the University of California shall have the right to the payment of a prevailing wage for work paid for, whole or in part, out of University of California funds, if that work would be considered public works under prevailing wage laws applicable to the state on or after January 1, 2025.
(3) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the Legislature may enact laws to further the rights established by this subdivision, to establish, define, or specify basic state labor standards applicable to the Regents of the University of California, or to establish other health, safety, and labor protections for individuals performing work for the Regents of the University of California.
(4) This subdivision shall not apply to a contract entered into before January 1, 2025, if compliance with this subdivision would impair the obligations of that contract.
(5) This subdivision shall not preclude the state labor standards and protections identified in this subdivision from being superseded by more favorable terms in a collective bargaining agreement.
Source: https://legiscan.com/CA/text/ACA6/id/2839200/California-2023-ACA6-Amended.html.
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UC has opposed the proposed amendment. See:
The Council of UC Faculty Associations has supported ACA 6. See:
https://cucfa.org/2023/04/our-letter-of-support-for-aca-6/.
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The amendment can be tracked at:
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