Senate Bill #46
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Presented to the Senate floor on January 10th, 2012.
Authored by: GLASS-MOORE
Co-authored by: Pelstring, Topf
Introduced by: Topf
Referred to: Internal Affairs Commission
Recommendation: Internal Affairs Commission
Senate Bill #46
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An ASUCD Senate Bill to create a Court Prosecutor to ensure the integrity of the ASUCD Constitution and Bylaws.
BACKGROUND: The ASUCD Court sees all cases relating to violations of the ASUCD Constitution and Bylaws. Currently, the responsibility falls on individual students to file complaints and prosecute cases. It is unreasonable to expect non-ASUCD government affiliated students to hold ASUCD accountable for unlawful behavior as they are not involved in ASUCD decisions, nor do they have the time to enforce the bylaws. As a result it is left to ASUCD student government employees to police themselves. Student government employees have political agendas of their own and shouldn't be the primary filers of suits in the ASUCD Court. However, this has recently been the case. The only way for ASUCD law to actually be enforced is to have a position, called the Court Prosecutor, with the responsibility of checking ASUCD for violations, filing complaints, and prosecuting the cases in front of the ASUCD Court. The ability of students to file complaints is completely unaffected by this law.
Section 1. The ASUCD Senate hereby enacts Section 210 of the ASUCD Bylaws as follows:
210. COURT PROSECUTOR. The Executive Branch shall include one (1) Court Prosecutor filled by an enrolled UC Davis undergraduate student only. The Court Prosecutor shall be appointed by the ASUCD President and confirmed by a majority vote of the ASUCD Senate, and shall have a one (1) year term.
A. The Court Prosecutor shall perform the following duties: study the entirety of the ASUCD Constitution and Bylaws; examine all elements and divisions of ASUCD, with no limitations, to the best of his/her ability, for any apparent behavior that violates the ASUCD Constitution and Bylaws; file complaints to the ASUCD Court when violations of ASUCD law are apparent and collect appropriate evidence; prosecute those cases in front of the ASUCD Court. In particular, during ASUCD Elections, the Court Prosecutor shall seek out and investigate violations of the Elections Codes and file the appropriate elections complaints to the Elections Committee.
B. The Court Prosecutor shall attend the meetings of the Internal Affairs Commission and stay up to date with changes to ASUCD law.
C. If a student observes a violation of ASUCD law, he/she may request that the violation be addressed by the Court Prosecutor, in two ways.
i. A student can fill out an ASUCD Court complaint form and submit it to SGAO with a written request that the complaint be prosecuted by the Court Prosecutor, rather than by the student him/herself. The Court Prosecutor will review the complain and assess its merits, then inform the student and the ASUCD Court within one (1) week with his/her decision to either accept or reject the request. In this circumstance, the ASUCD Court shall wait to proceed on the complaint until it receives a notice from the Court Prosecutor as to whether or not he/she accepts the case. If the Court Prosecutor does not notify the student and the ASUCD Court within the one (1) week period, it will be equal to a rejection. In the event of a rejection, the student will be responsible for prosecuting the case him/herself.
ii. A student can contact the Court Prosecutor and inform him/her about an apparent violation of ASUCD law and urge the Court Prosecutor to file a complaint and prosecute the case. If the student wishes his/her information to be used anonymously, the Court Prosecutor shall not reveal the identity of the student. The Court Prosecutor will review the request and assess its merits, then respond within one (1) week and either accept or reject the request.
D. The Court Prosecutor shall not hold any other position in ASUCD concurrently with this position, including any position within student government or any of the ASUCD Units. The Court Prosecutor shall not publicly support, attend meetings for, nor donate money to, any candidate for ASUCD office or an ASUCD political slate. A violation of any part of Section 210D shall cause the automatic resignation of the Court Prosecutor.
Section 2. The ASUCD Senate hereby enacts Section 502 (9) of the ASUCD Bylaws as follows:
502.
(9) The Interviewing Committee for Court Prosecutor shall be chaired by the ASUCD President (or a designee chosen by the ASUCD President). The Interviewing Committee shall include the ASUCD President (or designee), the ASUCD Vice President, and two (2) ASUCD Senators chosen by the ASUCD Senate President Pro Tempore. The Interviewing Committee shall advise the President on which applicant(s) he/she should appoint.
Finance: No Appropriation: None Vote: Majority