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Associated Students Inc. is searching for alternative ways to be compliant with a California law affecting the status of its non-voting board members, after a restructuring measure failed in March's student elections.
Assembly Bill 1233, adopted in October 2009, modifies California's corporation code, mandating that all board members must have voting power.
ASI has two non-students on its board who do not have voting rights.
Measure 2, which failed last month, would have amended Chapter 1 of the ASI bylaws to comply with the current California nonprofit law. It needed a two-thirds majority to pass, but gained only about 63 percent of the vote.
The bill clarifies the term "governing board member" to be a person who has been elected, designated or appointed to act as a member of the board. This person would also be able to vote on actions taken up by the board, as stated on the California State University Auxiliary Organizations Association website.
The passage of Measure 2 would have allowed the student government senate to make the necessary changes to the ASI bylaws to comply with law, according to ASI Executive Director Richard Haller.
"I have no explanation for why students voted against the measure unless they simply didn't understand it," Haller said.
Students may have voted against Measure 2 because it would have provided two non-students with the right to vote on student issues.
"If the measure passed, the senate would have been provided the authority to make the specific changes and only the specific changes to bring the bylaws into compliance with the new law," Haller said.
Haller also said three specific points would have been amended.
First, ASI would have made the university president's designee and the faculty representative voting members of the senate and the board of directors.
Second, ASI would have specified an officer of ASI to serve as secretary. The new law requires a nonprofit corporation to have a designated person fill this role.
Currently, ASI Vice President Lucy Nguyen serves as the secretary on ASI's Statement of Information that is filed with the California secretary of state, according to Haller.
The secretary is the person who is in charge of official correspondence, the minutes of the board meetings and records of ownership.
The measure would have also amended bylaws to list the ASI treasure as the chief financial officer of the corporation.
Jameson Nyeholt is the current ASI treasurer.
Haller said, as a result of the failed measure, ASI will now consult with its attorney to see if there is another way to bring the ASI bylaws into agreement with AB 1233.
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