(a) If the dispute is not settled within 30 days after the appointment of the panel, or, upon agreement by both parties, within a longer period, the panel shall make findings of fact and recommend terms of settlement, which recommendations shall be advisory only. Any findings of fact and recommended terms of settlement shall be submitted in writing to the parties privately before they are made public. The panel, subject to the rules and regulations of the board, may make those findings and recommendations public 10 days thereafter. During this 10-day period, the parties are prohibited from making the panel’s findings and recommendations public.

(b) The costs for the services of the panel chairperson, including per diem fees, if any, and actual and necessary travel and subsistence expenses, shall be borne by the board. Any other mutually incurred costs shall be borne equally by the employer and the exclusive representative. Each party shall bear the costs it incurs for the panel member it selects.

(c) (1) This subdivision applies only to disputes relating to the faculty and librarians of the University of California and the Hastings College of the Law. For the purposes of this subdivision, “faculty” means teachers employed to teach courses and authorize the granting of credit for the successful completion of courses, and excludes employees whose employment is contingent on their status as students.

(2) Irrespective of whether the panel makes its findings and recommendations public pursuant to subdivision (a), the Regents of the University of California and the Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, as appropriate, shall make the findings and recommendations of the panel public after the 10-day period prescribed by subdivision (a) has ended. These findings and recommendations shall be posted in a prominent public place, and copies of the findings and recommendations shall be made available to any person attending the next regularly scheduled public meeting of the regents or the directors, as appropriate. The publicly distributed agenda of the next regularly scheduled meeting of the regents or the directors, as appropriate, shall reference the availability of these findings and recommendations.

(3) It is the intent of the Legislature that the regents or the directors, as appropriate, shall act upon the findings and recommendations of the panel at an open and public meeting within 90 days of their submission to the parties by the panel.

(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 62, Sec. 106. Effective January 1, 2004.)