CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Constitutional Amendment
No. 6

Introduced by Assembly Member Haney
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Bryan, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Connolly, Friedman, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lee, Lowenthal, Maienschein, McCarty, McKinnor, Ortega, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Santiago, Schiavo, Wilson, and Zbur)
(Coauthors: Senators Cortese, Durazo, Menjivar, Smallwood-Cuevas, Wahab, and Wiener)

February 16, 2023

A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by adding subdivision (h) to Section 9 of Article IX thereof, relating to the University of California.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


ACA 6, as introduced, Haney. University of California: basic state labor standards.
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 individuals who perform work for 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 authorize the Legislature to enact laws that further these rights, define the basic state labor standards, or establish other health, safety, and labor protections for individuals performing work for the regents to the same extent as for other California workers.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  
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 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 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 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 for Individuals Performing Work 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 law enacted pursuant to paragraph (3), individuals who perform work for 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 in the private sector 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.
(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) and unless otherwise provided by a law enacted pursuant to paragraph (3), individuals who perform work for 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 work performed for the state or pursuant to state contracts:
(A) The payment of a prevailing wage for work paid for, in 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.
(B) For individuals directly employed by the Regents of the University of California, standards against displacement and contracting out of work as provided for in statutes governing the nonemergency use of personal service contracts by the state, unless those requirements are superseded by more favorable terms in a bona fide collective bargaining agreement.
(3) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the Legislature may enact laws in furtherance of the rights established by this subdivision or to define the basic state labor standards identified in this subdivision, and may enact laws to establish other health, safety, and labor protections for individuals performing work for the Regents of the University of California to the same extent as for other California workers.
(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.