This paper details the history of part-time faculty use in the California Community Colleges (CCCs). The status and use of part-time faculty hired on temporary assignments in the CCCs has been a long-standing and growing concern of the Academic Senate. In 1960, the ratio of full-time faculty to full-time students in the public junior colleges was 1/20; the current ratio is over 1/35, nearly doubling faculty responsibilities. Passage of the 60% law in 1967 reclassified any instructor teaching not more than 60% of the hours considered a full-time load as a temporary employee rather than a contract employee. Currently, 66.2% of faculty are part-time and they teach 46.1% of credit instruction. In addition to cataloging the legislation that has impacted part-time faculty status since 1967, this paper addresses state activity relating to part-time faculty issues: (1) hiring procedures; (2) health benefits; (3) student contact hours; and (4) comparable pay for comparable work. The paper concludes that the problems created by decades of arbitrary use and abuse of part-time faculty are complex and interdependent. During the 2000-2001 budget cycle, the Legislature and the Governor began to address the fundamental cause of the problems. The California Community College System must now try to formulate a comprehensive solution that avoids short-term and partial solutions that create new and unnecessary problems. (AUTH/NB)