New Brown Act Requirement Regarding the Approval of Salary Changes for High Level Administrators (CCD) - School & College Legal Services of California

Senate Bill 1436, effective January 1, 2017, is a “City of Bell” amendment to the Brown Act that focuses on salary and benefit increases for administrative staff.

LEGAL UPDATE

September 20, 2016

To: Superintendents/Presidents/Chancellors, Member Community College Districts

From: Patrick C. Wilson, Senior Associate General Counsel

Subject: New Brown Act Requirement Regarding the Approval of Salary Changes for High Level Administrators

Memo No. 16-2016 (CC)

Senate Bill 1436, effective January 1, 2017, is a “City of Bell” amendment to the Brown Act that focuses on salary and benefit increases for administrative staff.

This new law requires Brown Act boards, who intend to approve a change of salary or benefits for administrative staff, to orally report, in open session, the District’s recommendation regarding the changes to salary or fringe benefits for “local agency executives” prior to the Board taking final action to approve the salary or fringe benefits change.

A local agency executive (“LAE”) is defined in Government Code § 3511.1 to include:

“(d) “Local agency executive” means any person employed by a local agency who is not subject to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 3500)), Chapter 5 (commencing with Section
45100) of Part 25 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Education Code, or Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 88000) of Part 51 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code, and who meets any of the following requirements:

(1) The person is the chief executive officer, a deputy chief executive officer, or an assistant chief executive officer of the local agency.

(2) The person is the head of a department of a local agency.

(3) The person’s position within the local agency is held by an employment contract between the local agency and that person.”

In light of this new law, changes to salary or fringe benefits for a LAE should be processed as follows:

1. Discussion or action regarding salary or benefits shall only occur at a regular meeting.

2. Any closed session consideration of the change should be agendized as follows:

Closed Session:

With regard to every item of business to be discussed in closed session pursuant to

§ 54957.6:

Conference with Labor Negotiator:

Board Representative: (Insert name of person whom the board has designated to negotiate with the LAE, usually the board president.)

Unrepresented Employee: (Insert the title of the LAE.)

3. The agenda should also have an open session item, after the closed session, as follows:

Oral recommendation regarding proposed changes to salary and/or fringe benefits

of (specified local agency executive).

Discussion and possible approval of changes to salary and/or fringe benefits of

(specified local agency executive).

4. Action by the Board shall be memorialized in the minutes clearly stating how each Board member voted on the item.

5. We advise that (for PERS and STRS retirement salary verification purposes) any salary changes should be reflected on the publicly available salary schedule.

Please contact our office with questions regarding this Legal Update or any other legal matter.

The information in this Legal Update is provided as a summary of law and is not intended as legal advice. Application of the law may vary depending on the particular facts and circumstances at issue. We, therefore, recommend that you consult legal counsel to advise you on how the law applies to your specific situation.

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