After months of debate in the California state legislature, a
bill that would have forced the University of California to hold
all executive compensation meetings in open session is dead for the
year.
The Senate Appropriations Committee is holding the bill in the
suspense file, which is officially used to hold the bill until the
cost of implementation can be determined.
The author of the bill, state Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland
Yee, D-San Francisco, said he will continue to pursue the bill,
which was introduced in early June, through next year’s
legislative session.
“We will not give up this fight for the taxpayers and the
students of (the) UC,” Yee said in a statement. “If
necessary, I will pursue this bill again next year and make sure
that not only the UC, but the (California State University) as
well, start acting as a public trust and not a private
corporation.”
The UC has continued to hold meetings regarding executive
compensation in closed session despite some public scrutiny, saying
that discussions on pay and compensation for individuals must be
discussed in closed session to protect the individual’s
privacy.
“(The bill) fails to recognize that the regents’
discussion of executive compensation are intertwined with
discussions about the performance and value of individuals, as well
as with negotiations that are often going on with
individuals,” said Stephen Arditti, assistant vice president
and director of state governmental relations at the UC in a letter
to Yee.
The UC’s executive compensation scandal began after the
San Francisco Chronicle published a series of articles showing
violations of university pay policy, including large administrative
stipends awarded to administrators without the knowledge of the
public or the UC Board of Regents.
In the past month, the UC has been scrutinized by a series of
both internal and external audits and two hearings in the
California State Education Committee. The UC also faced calls from
two state senators that UC President Robert Dynes should resign or
be fired and a lawsuit filed by the San Francisco Chronicle to
force the UC to open its meetings.
Yee introduced the bill as another effort to prevent the regents
from meeting in closed session, and to improve transparency and
accountability in the UC.
The UC will be able to hold closed session meetings on executive
compensation for at least the next year.
UC officials have said they are committed to greater
transparency, but maintain their opposition to the bill on the
grounds that holding personnel meetings may turn talented faculty
and administrations away from the UC.
“Debating in public whether the university can recruit a
new chancellor for one amount over another, or whether
they’re more valuable than another chancellor who earns a
different amount, will not make the university an attractive place
for talented people to come,” Arditti wrote.
But Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, maintains that open
meetings are necessary to increase transparency within the UC.
“University of California officials have violated the
public trust in recent years by doling out millions in secret pay
and perks to top UC executives,” Maldonado said in a
statement. “(The bill) would have provided greater
transparency, and it’s a shame that some state lawmakers
still don’t get it. California’s students, faculty and
taxpayers deserve better.”
Tina Park, Undergraduate Students Association Council external
vice president, said though she does not know the specifics of the
bill, she believes the UC needs to be more accountable.
“I think that everything at the UC should be as
transparent as possible,” Park said, adding that the UC is a
public institution and the public deserves to know if university
policy is being violated.
The regents have endorsed several recommendations from the
Hertzberg-Kozberg Taskforce on Compensation that they hope will
increase transparency and accountability. Recommendations included
annual reports to the state legislature on the compensation of
top-paid administrators and disclosure of actions taken in closed
session meetings regarding compensation.