California Assembly Bill AB1892 Introduced / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 1892INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mendoza FEBRUARY 16, 2010 An act to amend Sections 87861, 87863, 87866, and 87867 of, to add Section 87861.5 to, and to repeal Section 87868 of, the Education Code, relating to community colleges. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1892, as introduced, Mendoza. Community colleges: part-time faculty: health insurance. (1) Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the board to appoint a chief executive officer, known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, and requires the chancellor to execute the duties and responsibilities delegated to him or her by the board. Under existing law, each community college district is administered by a governing board. Existing law establishes the Part-time Community College Faculty Health Insurance Program, which authorizes the governing board of a community college district to provide a program of health insurance for part-time faculty and their dependents. Existing law defines "part-time faculty," for the purposes of the program, as any faculty member whose teaching assignment equals or exceeds 40% of the cumulative equivalent of a minimum full-time teaching assignment. Existing law provides that specified provisions of the program shall be operative in any fiscal year only if funds are appropriated for purposes of the program in the annual Budget Act or in another measure and expresses legislative intent that ongoing funding for the program be subject to annual Budget Act appropriations. This bill would delete those limitations, thereby making those provisions of the program operative regardless of fiscal year. The bill would express the intent of the Legislature, commencing with the 2011-12 fiscal year, to appropriate sufficient funds to reimburse participating community college districts for the costs incurred by the districts in paying health insurance premiums for eligible part-time faculty pursuant to the program. (2) Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, by June 15 of each year, to apportion to each community college district that establishes a health insurance program pursuant to the Part-time Community College Faculty Health Insurance Program, an amount that equals up to 1/2 of the total cost of the individual enrollment premiums required to be paid for the health insurance coverage of participating part-time faculty and their dependents in the district. This bill, instead, would require the chancellor to apportion to each community college that establishes a program an amount equal to the total cost of the individual enrollment premiums required to be paid for the health insurance coverage. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 87861 of the Education Code is amended to read: 87861. For the purposes of this article: (a) "Health insurance benefits" include medical benefits but do not include vision or dental benefits. (b) "Part-time faculty" refers to  any   a  faculty member whose teaching assignment equals or exceeds 40 percent of the cumulative equivalent of a minimum full-time teaching assignment.  (c) The changes made to subdivision (b) during the 1999 portion of the 1999-2000 Regular Session of the Legislature shall be operative in any fiscal year only if funds are appropriated for purposes of those changes in the annual Budget Act or in another measure. If the amount appropriated in the annual Budget Act or in another measure for purposes of this section is insufficient to fully fund those changes for the fiscal year, the chancellor shall prorate the funds among the community college districts affected by this section.  SEC. 2. Section 87861.5 is added to the Education Code, to read: 87861.5. Commencing with the 2011-12 fiscal year, it is the intent of the Legislature to appropriate sufficient funds to reimburse all participating community college districts for the costs incurred by those districts in paying health insurance premiums for eligible part-time faculty pursuant to this article. SEC. 3. Section 87863 of the Education Code is amended to read: 87863. (a) A part-time faculty member and his or her eligible dependents are eligible to participate in the program established pursuant to this article.  (b) The changes made to subdivision (a) during the 1999 portion of the 1999-2000 Regular Session of the Legislature shall be operative in any fiscal year only if funds are appropriated for purposes of those changes in the annual Budget Act or in another measure. If the amount appropriated in the annual Budget Act or in another measure for purposes of this section is insufficient to fully fund those changes for the fiscal year, the chancellor shall prorate the funds among the community college districts affected by this section.   (c)   (b)  Any changes made pursuant to this section to the Part-time Community College Faculty Health Insurance Program shall not affect any part-time health insurance program in effect on January 1, 2000. SEC. 4. Section 87866 of the Education Code is amended to read: 87866. The governing board of each community college district that establishes a program pursuant to this article shall do both of the following: (a) Negotiate with the exclusive representative  as to the payment of the portion of the health insurance premium that is not funded by the state   concerning health insurance benefits for part-time faculty  . (b) By June 1 of each year, send verification to the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges as to the number of participants in the program. SEC. 5. Section 87867 of the Education Code is amended to read: 87867. By June 15 of each year, the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall apportion to each community college district that establishes a program pursuant to this article an amount that equals  up to one-half of  the total cost of the individual enrollment premiums required to be paid for the health insurance coverage of participating part-time faculty and their dependents in the district. The chancellor shall distribute funds that have been appropriated specifically for this purpose proportionally based on each district's total costs for premiums for those districts that submit verification of the costs of premiums for eligible employees for a fiscal year  , but in no event shall the allocation to any district exceed one-half of the cost of the verified premiums  . If funds appropriated for this purpose exceed  one-half of  the  total  verified cost of premiums for all participating districts statewide, the balance that exceeds that amount shall revert to the General Fund annually. SEC. 6. Section 87868 of the Education Code is repealed.  87868. It is the intent of the Legislature that ongoing funding for the purposes of this article be subject to annual Budget Act appropriations.