Earlier this week, California State University Chancellor Charles Reed continued to prioritize executive compensation over the needs of students.  His actions prompted an urgency to pass legislation that would prohibit pay hikes for administrators during bad budget years.

At a special committee of the CSU Board of Trustees, Reed said, “In recruiting and selecting presidents…that is the single most important responsibility of this board. I don’t think there is any question about that.”

There is no question that Chancellor Reed has the wrong priorities and is completely out of touch.  The number one focus of his office and the Trustees should be on the students and their needs, not on creating a get rich factory for top executives.

“It is telling that the Chancellor does not think that the number one job of the Board of Trustees is to ensure the success of our students,” said Lillian Taiz, President of the California Faculty Association. “Furthermore, it is simply repugnant to hear the Chancellor cry poor about well-to-do executives having to sell a home at a loss and seeing their pensions capped at a mere $240,000 per year while tens of thousands of students are losing their opportunity to climb into the middle class.”

These comments by the Chancellor and the recent actions of the Board of Trustees are precisely why we need to pass legislation to prohibit such abuses of the public trust.

Last month, the CSU Board of Trustees raised fall tuition by 12 percent (on top of a 10 percent increase approved last year), while also awarding the new president of San Diego State a $400,000 salary – $100,000 more than his predecessor.
 
The UC Board of Regents also raised tuition by 9.6 percent (on top of an 8 percent increase already approved for the fall semester), while giving the head of the UC San Francisco Medical Center a nearly $200,000 raise, bringing his yearly base salary to $935,000, as well as a retention bonus of $1 million over four years.

When the legislation returns to session next week, I will reintroduce legislation to prohibit pay raises for top administrators during bad budget years.
 
Despite overwhelming bipartisan support in the Legislature, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill in 2009.
 
UC and CSU are public institutions, not Wall Street banks.  Once and for all, it is time to stop these egregious compensation practices.
 
This bill would prohibit such pay increases for the system’s top administrators, including campus presidents and chancellors, in years in which the university’s allocation from the state does not increase.
 
Year after year, I have voted against the state budget cuts to education, and long fought the executive compensation decisions by UC and CSU. In 2007, Senate Bill 190 was introduced to ensure compensation decisions were made during a public session of the Regents and Trustees. Prior to the law, UC and CSU often made such decisions behind closed doors without public input.
 
It is still not entirely clear how much money UC and CSU executives may be receiving from their campus foundations and auxiliaries. This year, I introduced SB 8 to subject such entities to the California Public Records Act.
 
Time and time again, rather than protecting the needs of students and California families, the Regents and Trustees line the pockets of their top executives.  While these public administrators are living high on the hog, many Californians are struggling. We deserve better.