Assembly Standing Committee on Higher Education

We'll get started. Good afternoon, everyone. The Assembly Higher Education Committee is now called to order. Wanna welcome everyone to the Assembly Higher Education Committee hearing. This hearing is the first of two hearings we'll have for Senate measures.

Whether you're here in person or watching virtually, I'm glad that you have joined us. Please note that similar Jeff Gonzales has been excused from today's hearing. Now senator Stan Ellis will serve as his replacement for today's hearing. I'll welcome senator Ellis. Thank you.

This time, please, to welcome back Michael Erkey, who once again is pinching for our committee. Thank you, miss Urqui, and welcome back for thank you for all your service. I will now go over some key elements of the structure of today's hearing. In order to facilitate the goal of hearing as much from the public within the limits of our time, we will not permit conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of legislative proceedings.

We will not accept disruptive behavior or behavior that incites or threatens violence.

The rules for today's hearing include no talking or loud noises from the audience. Public comment may be provided only at the designated time and place as permitted by the chair. Public comment must relate to the subject or bills being discussed today. No engaging in conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes our early conduct of this hearing. Please be aware that violations of these rules may subject you to removal or other enforcement actions.

Those will be taken up in sign in order today. And however, the committee members will present typically present the bills after non committee members. Authors, please sign in to sergeant's desk in Room 26. And please note that the guideline for bills heard in today's committee is to allow for testimony from two lead witnesses in support and two lead witnesses in opposition to speak for no more than two minutes each.

Stakeholder groups and entities that are neither support nor in opposition will be allowed to give testimony for no more than two minutes when I call for tweeters.

The measure has more than two minutes in the tweeter category. Only two will be allowed to speak for two minutes each. Colleagues, members, since our hearings are public and some travel far to be here in respect of them and the author, please allow the author to complete their opening remarks regarding the bill before making a motion so that the public has ideas what the bill is about.

If a motion is made during the author's opening remarks, I'll simply state that the motion will be recognized at the appropriate time. Additionally, members, if you'd like to respond to a roll call, ask a question, or provide a comment, please be sure to activate your microphone to speak into the mic.

For authors here today, each member will presenting an opening statement and a closing statement. As we stated, your two lead witnesses will each have two minutes to provide testimony. And we'll take up the consent calendar when we have a quorum. And with that, we'd like to start off as a subcommittee and welcome Senator Rajanilo. Thank you.

Presenting item number five, SCR 82. Welcome, Senator.

Welcome. Thank you, mister chair and, committee members, for the opportunity to present SCR 82 relating to artificial intelligence in higher education. A topic that the chair is certainly familiar with as well, which is evident from your introduction of your, AB 2393, similar to this bill, or this, resolution. As we know, artificial intelligence is emerging and rapidly changing is an emerging and rapidly changing technology. And, you know, it is a combined phenomena of excitement and complete scary times, both at the same time.

The legislature is working diligently on how California can be at the forefront of AI, and that includes thinking through the impact this technology is going to have has and is going to have on our daily lives.

In the case of higher education, it's important to discuss the impact and best practices to be sure that students can thrive in their educational journeys since AI can be used to do almost anything, including helping students cheat by allowing students to pass off work created by AI as their own, it is vital our education systems are prepared and communicating on how to deal with these situations.

In addition, professors, faculty are on the front lines trying to assess student mastery of the subject, and many are having a hard time catching work that's created by artificial intelligence. In some classes, the use of AI is encouraged, while in others, it's punished. It is time to have access to best practices and tools that help ensure that students are applying what they learn in the classroom and not just copying and pasting what an AI bot wrote for them.

While each institution is working on this issue on their own, it is imperative that they be communicating as a group due to California's connected education system. SCR 82 is simp simply encourages dialogue among the California higher education systems to help promote the best approaches in teaching as well as regulations to help us around the allowable use of artificial intelligence. In addition to the respective academic sentence, it also includes encouragement encouraging the engagement of faculty and students.

Convening a work group is the is in the best interest of all parties involved, especially our students, to work toward clear guidelines for usage. I do not have any witnesses.

I'm performing completely without a safety net, and I just request your aye vote. Thank you

so much, Senator. Appreciate your testimony and your appreciate your leadership on this issue. Before we go into additional witnesses, we will take an opportunity to establish quorum. Mister secretary, roll call, please.

Fong? Here. De Maio? Here. Werner?

Ellis? Here. Jackson? Here. Patel?

Here. Rodriguez? Here. Sharp Collins? Thank you, Paul.

We have quorum, and we'll take up the consent calendar at this time as well. We have three measures on consent. They are as follows. File items number one, SP308, file number two, SP892, and file number four, SP968. Do we have a motion on the consent calendar?

A motion by our vice chair. Second by doctor Patel. Seeing any any questions or comments? Seeing none, roll call, please.

Fong. Aye. Fong, aye. De Maio. Aye.

De Maio, aye. Burner, Ellis. Aye. Ellis, aye, Jackson. Marisucci.

Aye.

Marisucci, aye, Patel. Aye. Rodriguez, aye, Sharp Collins. Aye. Sharp Collins, aye, Tangipa.

Thank you senator Collins. That measure of seven eyes will keep the world open for additional members to add on. Thank you so much, Senator Neil, for your patience. At this time now, we'll are there any additional witnesses to support in the hearing room? Are there any witnesses in opposition in the hearing room?

Are there any tweeners in the hearing room?

Good afternoon, chair members. Jason Henderson on behalf of the Faculty Association for California Community Colleges. We just have some, concerns about the what the work group is entailing, specifically that faculty purview or some things, that work group needs to do that are faculty purview only, things like classroom instruction, as well as academic freedom. We also see that, at the community college level, the the governance structure is a little bit different than the other segments. So look forward to working with the author on that.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Colleagues, any questions or comments? Seeing none, Senator oh, please. No. I do.

Senator Sharp-Collins. Welcome.

I just wanted to thank the author for bringing forth this bill. Having been a adjunct professor at San Diego State for almost seventeen years, This this this is something that we've talked about a lot as we continue to move into the AI, areas. So, I do definitely appreciate it. I would love to be added on as a coauthor for this particular bill as well.

And if there's anything else that I can do to help further the conversation based on experiences or other things, just let me know.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And good to see you again. We were together this morning in

public safety committee. Small world. Thank you so much. Are there any further questions or comments? Seeing none, Senator, would like to close, please.

Thank you. I appreciate that. As my introductory statements indicated, artificial intelligence is going to be a very important is becoming and will be a very important part of our daily lives. I don't know if you folks have noticed, but I've seen a few of the televised speeches at college graduations recently. And every time that I've seen artificial intelligence raised, they've booed it.

It is not something in my opinion, it is not something to be afraid of. It is something to be controlled. And, for those young people who believe it's a threat to their future, I would say artificial intelligence isn't gonna replace your job. A person who knows how to use artificial intelligence is gonna replace your job. And that means it's really important to learn how to use it, control its threats.

The and so our institutions of higher education can provide guidelines in teaching, but also in helping us in that task to control its its rollout. So having said that, I respectfully ask and I vote.

Thank you so much, Justin Niellen, for authoring this, resolution. And we know that inter intersegmental coordination and collaboration is critical in our higher education segments that allows us to maximize our resources and to not reinvent the wheel. AI adoption is already happening in higher education and in ways that we couldn't have imagined only even a few years ago. While each of the segments are doing thoughtful work in the space across the respective respective campuses, the segments themselves could likely benefit from jointly working together.

And I've proposed similar collaborative work in my bill, so we built two three nine two as you mentioned in your opening remarks, especially around system wide procurement for training and around training standards as well.

And, similar to doctor Sharp Collins, would be loved to be at it as a co author if with your permission.

Thank you. Thank you.

With that, I look forward to supporting the measure here today. Do we have a motion? Moved moved by vice chair De Maio, seconded by a similar doctor Sharp Collins. Any further questions or comments? Seeing none, roll call, please.

File item number five, SCR 82. The motion is be adopted and re referred to the committee on privacy and consumer protection. Fong. Aye. Fong, Aye.

De Maio. De Maio, Aye. Burner. Ellis. Aye.

Ellis, Aye. Jackson. Marisucci. Aye. Marisucci, Aye.

Patel, Aye. Rodriguez. Aye. Rodriguez, Aye. Sharp Collins.

Sharp Collins, Aye. Tangipa. Aye. Tangipa, Aye.

Thank you so much, colleagues. That measure is eight zero. We keep the roll open for additional members add on. Thank you so much.

Thank you all very much. Thank you so much.

At this time, we'll entertain add ons for our consent calendar, please.

On the consent calendar, absent members, Berner, Jackson, Tongipa. Aye. Tongipa, aye.

Thank you so much. The consent calendar is a vote, and we'll keep the roll open for additional members to add on. And, we have one final item, SB 928 by Senator Cervantes. Not yet. Thank you.

Thank you so much, everyone for your patience. We'd like to welcome Senator Cervantes presenting item number three, SB 928. Welcome, Senator Cervantes.

Thank you so much, mister chair and committee members, for allowing me to present Senate bill 928, which is a bill to help protect faculty employees at California State University. As many know, artificial intelligence has seen intelligence has seen incredible advancement in recent years, but it's still a resource that is still very much in development. Many institutions of higher education are exploring options to integrate AI into their courses and curriculum. In many instances, there this has been done without any boundaries or guardrails.

One of the most pressing issues facing, this growing use of AI is a possible effect of on human workers, particularly the threat that human workers could be replaced by AI.

The growing use of new technology in educational settings has left many faculty members concerned about the impact on them in their classrooms. Faculty reasonably continue to fear that the institutions that they work for might attempt to have AI tools perform jobs that have historically been performed by human faculty. In February 2025, the California State University announced a $17,000,000 contract with OpenAI to provide chat GPT EDU to all faculty, staff, and students on its 22 campuses as part of a larger AI powered university initiative.

The contract between the CSU and OpenAI is the largest contract ever established between a university system and an artificial intelligence company, and it was done without faculty consent. In May 2026, CSU renewed its system wide contract with OpenAI for three year term, costing 13,000,000 annually.

Senate bill 928 will help provide guardrails on the integration of AI tools in CSU classrooms and campuses. The bill will add and explicitly require that a faculty employee, which includes professor, lecturer, librarian, counselor, and coach positions must be held by an individual who meets all the minimum qualifications as determined by the trustees of the California State University.

The bill will also require that the instructor of record for a course of instruction shall be a person who meets the role to serve as a faculty employee teaching credit or noncredit instruction. Additionally, this bill would still allow, for continued use of new developing technologies like AI as a tool to support faculty in carrying out their task. While there is room for AI to contribute to CSU classrooms and campuses, human faculty are still necessary and best suited to teach students.

I respectfully ask for your aye vote, when the time is permitted. With me, we have two individuals here, to testify and support.

Thank you so much, and welcome to your witnesses.

Good afternoon, chair and members. Eric Paredes with the California Faculty Association, proud sponsor of the bill. Just wanna thank the Senator for authoring this very important bill. I'm here to answer any specific questions about the bill, but, now I'll pass it over to, Kevin Weir, a professor at Sacramento State.

Thank you so much, and welcome.

Good afternoon, chair and committee members. My name is Kevin Weir. I'm a professor at Sacramento State in the sociology department and a member of the California Faculty Association where I chair the bargaining team. As the Senator has said, artificial intelligence or AI has seen incredible advancements in recent years. The growing use of AI in educational settings has left many faculty employees like myself concerned about the impact on our work.

As AI tool adoption has expanded, its impact on human workers and jobs has grown, and the need to enact guardrails has become more pressing. As AI threatens to replace human work, faculty reasonably fear that institutions of higher learning might attempt to have AI tools perform the duties that we have historically done. On my campus in Sacramento, a counselor bot was introduced. We were able to fight that back, and real human counselors still counsel our students in the Mental Health Clinic.

A recent New York Times Magazine article reported on an AI librarian on the San Jose campus.

I'm still trying to track down what exactly that means. SB 928 would enact guardrails to prevent instructional and non instructional faculty employees at the CSU from being replaced by AI. Specifically, this bill would explicitly require that a faculty employee, which includes professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors, and coaches, must be human. Faculty play a critical role in student success by providing academic instruction, mentorship, and support that directly impacts student retention, engagement, personal growth, and the overall importance of the graduation rate.

They work hard to teach students critical thinking skills, the technical know how, and the cultural insights students need to be thoughtful, productive, and artistic participants in our society.

This bill recognizes the personal connection, guidance, and expertise CSU faculty provides to students that simply cannot be replaced by AI. This bill is essential to protect jobs and preserve the human element that makes our education institutions the best

the best

in the world. For these reasons, I urge you to please support SB 928. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Are there additional witnesses in support in the hearing room?

Good afternoon, chair members. Connor Guston on behalf of Teamsters California in support.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, chair members. I'm with the California Federation of Labor Unions for our cosponsor and support. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, mister chair and members. Mike West on behalf of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California also in support.

Thank you so much. Are there witnesses in opposition in the hearing room? Are there tweeners in the hearing room? Colleagues, any questions or comments? We have a motion and a second.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. Any further questions or comments? Doctor Patel?

I would like to also be added as a co author. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other further questions or comments? Seeing none, Senator, you'd like to close, please.

Thank you. Gladly, we'll add the two of some of the members as a coauthor and respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Do you have a question? Yep. Okay. Thank you so much. We have a question for vice mayor De Mayo.

So I'm a little confused. I know that your bill makes it covers both credit and noncredit instruction, but the witness referred to non instructional positions, which is does it it doesn't look like this bill applies to non instructional positions. It applies to credit and noncredit instruction. Can we clarify that?

Go ahead. In the CSU, we typically refer to faculty positions that are instructional and non instructional. So instructional, obviously, in the classroom, but we also have faculty unit employees who have instructional relationships with students outside of the classroom. So librarians, counselors, coaches. So they are typically referred to as non instructional faculty.

But it has to be classroom related.

Is that correct?

I'm just concerned about if if this now encroaches over to support positions and clerical and administrative. Can how do we know that the definition won't get into some of those areas?

Yeah. Yeah. No. Happy to answer that question. So, you know, we we actually we kinda we we worked really hard with the author's office and committee staff to because as noted in the analysis, CSU faculty has actually never been defined in Ed Code.

So we what we did is we came up with the definition that very much mirrors the definition in our collective bargaining agreement with the CSU. So when we talk about instructional and non instructional, there there's some faculty positions that that are not instructional. Right? Like, maybe like a coach or a counselor. So we just wanted to make sure that it covered all faculty because not all faculty is teaching.

And then to your other point about extension for credit positions, Kevin, I don't know if you wanna talk a little bit about what that means, just just to make sure that we we answer all of the questions.

Yeah. Extension for credit is a a term that we use in the CSU that you're probably more familiar with the idea of summer school or winter intersession. So those are our extension for credit. So these would be courses taught to students for credit during the summer off of the normal, state sponsored, course listings.

So as I read the actual legislative text, eight nine five zero zero.three A two, it says the faculty employee positions described in paragraph one include but are not limited to instructional and non instructional positions. So would this apply to administrative and clerical roles?

So so it does not because and and I'll just go over it again. So a faculty at the CSU includes a professor, lecturer, librarian, counselor, or or coach. It doesn't include a classified worker or an administrator. And, you know, if if you go in and look or read our collective bargaining agreement, you'll notice that the definition for CSU faculty is extremely long. We couldn't we we didn't think it was necessary to, you know, include that entire definition.

So what we did is we just kinda came up with something that mirrored it, but still covered it. So to to answer your question, the the the bill does not slip into classified workers or administrators.

And through the chair, just wanted to mention just in developing the language for this bill, we wanted to maintain consistency with the way that CSU defines faculty, and we believe that that's what this bill does.

Okay. Thank you.

With that clarification, I will support with caution because I think AI does offer an efficiency in some positions. But we also have, you know, credentialed, positions like faculty that we expect are done by credentialed, faculty members. So my hope is that as this is implemented that we don't see an expansion in this definition to positions that I don't think the author would intend would be covered under the bill. So I will support.

Thank you so much. Senator, we like to close.

Are you good?

I'm sorry. Yes. I just wanna Alright. Sentor Tongipa ?

I just wanted to thank the Senator for bringing this. I think Jonathan Haight has actually written some things that talks about over technology in classroom has actually led to a regression of learning. And I think that we need to make sure that we're proceeding with caution to make sure that people are moving that. So I've I've read a lot about what's happening at the elementary school level.

And so and I think as things are progressed extremely quickly, we've gotta make sure that we're taking a measured approach.

And so just wanna say thank you.

Thank you so much. Any further questions or comments? Seeing none, Senator would like to close, please.

I appreciate the comments today and certainly would love and I vote, and we'll continue working on this with all of our stakeholders and sponsors. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Senator Cervantes, for authoring this legislation and for your prior work in this space as well. We know that AI capabilities, adoption, and use is expanding in a ways that we can have imagined just even a few years ago, a decade ago. In the face of this new technology, we must affirm the critical role that humans play, not only in education of our students, but in the very fabric of higher education and our society.

We know technology can augment humans, but it should never replace humans. And with that, would love to be added as a co author as well with your permission.

And with that, looks forward for supporting this measure here today. Mister secretary, roll call, please.

File item number three, SB 928. The motion is do passed to the assembly floor. Fong? Aye. Fong, Aye.

De Maio? De Maio, Aye. Burner? Aye. Burner, Aye.

Ellis? Aye. Ellis, Aye. Jackson? Aye.

Jackson, Aye. Mirsuchi? With a request to be added as a co author, aye. Murasuchi, aye, Patel. Aye.

Patel, aye, Rodriguez.

Aye.

Rodriguez, aye, Sharpe Collins. Sharpe Collins, aye, Tonguepa. Aye.

Tonguepa, aye. That measure is 10 ayes, and it's out. Thank you so much, Senator. And now, we'll do, add ons for our consent calendar. Mister secretary, we'll call on the consent calendar, please.

So on the consent calendar, calling absent members, Berner.

[Roll Call]

Berner, Aye, Jackson. Aye. Jackson. Aye.

The consent calendar is out. Thank you so much, colleagues. File item number well, to take on add ons for file item number five. Mister secretary, roll call, please.

[Roll Call]

Jackson? Aye. Jackson? Aye. 10 votes.

That measure is out, with 10 votes. Thank you so much. And thank you to everyone for your involvement with today's hearing. Our next hearing is on Tuesday, June 23 at 01:30PM here in State Capitol Room 126. Authors and stakeholders, please be sure to be engaging early with our committee staff on your measures. With that, the assembly higher education meeting is adjourned.

With that, the assembly higher education meeting is adjourned.