Senate Bill #33

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Authored by: GANZ

Introduced by: Internal Affairs Commission

An ASUCD Senate Bill to develop the procedure for Judicial Council evidence collection.

BACKGROUND: As the newfound Judicial Branch continues to develop and further define its role in the context of the ASUCD, it has come to the attention of certain members of the Judicial Council that they lack the ability to access potentially vital information pertaining to a given case of their own accord; specifically, unless the petitioner and/or respondent chooses to submit evidence themselves, the Judicial Council cannot proactively obtain information in any official capacity. As such, members of the council request that the Senate codify their ability to subpoena, specifically to mandate specific persons to testify or submit evidence as to offer the Judicial Council a more comprehensive understanding of a given case. More information regarding the rationale behind the various policies included within this bill can be found within the Judicial Council memo signed on 02/05/2018 addressed to the Internal Affairs Commission and the ASUCD Senate.

Section 1. The ASUCD Senate hereby enacts Section 213 of the ASUCD Bylaws as follows:

D. Capacities of the Judicial Council:

  1. By a majority vote of members present, the ASUCD Judicial Council, in resolving a given dispute within its constitutional authority, may issue subpoenas requesting either (a) the testimony of a specific individual or group of individuals or (b) the submission of ASUCD documents as evidence, either of which must be relevant to the given dispute.
  1. i. Each subpoena shall be sent to relevant parties in an official manner deemed appropriate by the Judicial Council Chair no more than two (2) academic days from its issuance.
  2. Ii. Documentation procured via subpoena may include, but is not limited to, public records (as defined in section 2201), and/or other private information deemed vital to resolving a given dispute.

iii. All testimonies procured via subpoena shall be heard during closed session of the ASUCD Judicial Council.

iv. All testimonies and/or evidence procured via subpoena must be considered prior to the final ruling of a given dispute and may not be used to alter the final ruling of an already resolved dispute.

v. If the recipient of a given subpoena believes the requested evidence to be irrelevant and/or non-vital to a given case, they may appeal the subpoena to the Judicial Council Oversight Committee (JCOC), which by a majority vote of members present may uphold or retract the subpoena.

Section 2. The ASUCD Senate hereby enacts Section 505(G) of the ASUCD bylaws as follows:

G. The ASUCD Senate may recommend to the ASUCD Business Manager must consider the removal of any ASUCD official, candidate, nominee and/or personnel failing to comply with the Judicial Council in regard to the issuance of subpoenas.

Finance: NoAppropriation: None Vote: Majority

DO PASS AS AMENDED, 12-0-0, BY A ROLL CALL OF THE SENATE ON February 8th, 2018. YES: BRANSON, GOFMAN, GODDERIS, HALAWI, IBRAHIM, KAUR, KULLAR, PEREZ, RODRIGUEZ, SEDGLEY, SIGALA, SURYAWANSHI.

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Josh Dalavai Date

ASUCD President