This year’s Associated Students Inc. ballot contains two referendums that students will have the opportunity to vote on, including one that would, if passed, put the multi-million dollar organization back in compliance with California law.
Proposed amendments to the organization’s bylaws include the removal of presidential veto authority, creation of executive term limits and a change to the number of voting members on the ASI Board of Directors.
As a non-profit auxiliary organization, ASI is bound by rules set forth by the California Nonprofit Corporation Law (Cal. Corp. Code §§ 5000-10841), which governs the formation, operation and dissolution of various types of California nonprofit corporations, according to ASI Executive Director Richard Haller.
ASI has been out of compliance with California law since 2010, according to Haller.
The majority of proposed changes to Chapter I of the bylaws is simple housekeeping and grammatical changes that need to be done because there hasn’t been a major overhaul of the AS Bylaws in more than 30 years, according to Haller.
“During that time, individual sections have been amended about 10 times, but never have I seen an entire rewrite,” Haller said.
All the changes, however, will still affect students, ASI President John Haberstroh said.
“Students themselves will not see a direct impact, but what they will see is a more responsive student government, and when the students vote, they’re voting to increase efficiency in ASI and to increase accountability of elected ASI officials,” Haberstroh said.
Haller said his main concern is that if students don’t approve the measure, ASI will still be out of compliance with some major provisions of the California Corporations Code.
“While no one is threatening [ASI] with a fine or anything, it’s not a position that you want to be in because it kind of makes the organization look like they’re thumbing their nose at the state of California and its laws,” Haller said.
Haberstroh said that passage of the Chapter I bylaws will also allow the Senate to make changes to the Chapter II bylaws.
Chapter II of the ASI Bylaws do not require approval by the student body, but they do require a two-thirds majority vote by members of the Senate.
Haberstroh said one of the intended changes to Chapter II would be to change the way that senators-at-large are elected by requiring each candidate to run for a specific constituency. Currently, the top six candidates are elected by the students and assigned a constituency by the vice president, according to Haberstroh.
ASI Vice President Jonathon Bolin said that under the current AS Bylaws, the vice president chooses six out of eight constituencies and assigns them at his discretion.
“I appoint the constituency, and the students don’t have any say, which is kind of silly since the senators are representatives for the students,” Bolin said.
Haberstroh said the changes to the bylaws would make senators-at-large more accountable to the people who have elected them.
There are a number of other intended changes to Chapter II, but for now, ASI is focusing on passing Chapter I and regaining compliance with the state of California.
The ASI elections will begin Friday and continue through Wednesday. Students can vote online via email.
