SB259INTRODUCED
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SB259
V77WUVP-1
By Senators Figures, Sessions, Williams, Elliott
RFD: County and Municipal Government
First Read: 19-Mar-25
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5 V77WUVP-1 03/18/2025 GP (L)lg 2025-1017
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First Read: 19-Mar-25
SYNOPSIS:
Existing law provides for the membership of the
Board of Trustees of the University of South Alabama.
This bill would increase the number of board
members from the United States at-large from two
members to three members.
This bill would increase the number of board
members from the state at-large from five members to
nine members.
This bill would remove the requirement that one
member be appointed from each of the following
combinations of state senatorial districts: (i) the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth; (ii) the Nineteenth and
Twentieth; (iii) the Twenty-first; (iv) the
Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth, and Thirtieth; and (v) the
Thirty-fifth, and would provide that trustees currently
holding those seats may complete their terms, at which
point the Governor may appoint a successor reflecting
the revised membership.
This bill would require the board to hold a
regular annual meeting during June of each year, rather
than the first Monday in June.
This bill would also revise notice requirements
for special meetings of the board from at least 10 days
in advance of the date of the meeting to as soon as
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in advance of the date of the meeting to as soon as
practicable after the meeting is called, and in no
event less than 24 hours before the meeting is
scheduled to begin.
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to the University of South Alabama; to amend
Sections 16-55-2 and 16-55-6, Code of Alabama 1975; to revise
the membership of the Board of Trustees of the University of
South Alabama; and to revise notice and other requirements for
meetings of the board.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. Sections 16-55-2 and 16-55-6, Code of
Alabama 1975, are amended to read as follows:
"§16-55-2
(a) The board of trustees shall consist of three
members from Mobile County, five nine members from the state
at large, twoat-large, three members from the United States at
largeat-large, and the Governor, who shall be ex officio
president of the board , and one each from each of the
following state senatorial districts, or combinations thereof,
as those districts existed in 1963: Sixteenth and Seventeenth
Districts comprising Monroe and Wilcox Counties and Butler,
Conecuh, and Covington Counties, respectively; Nineteenth and
Twentieth Districts comprising Choctaw, Clarke, and Washington
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Twentieth Districts comprising Choctaw, Clarke, and Washington
Counties and Marengo and Sumter Counties, respectively;
Twenty-first District comprising Baldwin and Escambia
Counties; Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth, and Thirtieth Districts
comprising Dale and Geneva Counties, Coffee and Crenshaw
Counties, and Dallas and Lowndes Counties, respectively; and
the Thirty-fifth District comprising Henry and Houston
Counties. The trustees shall be appointed by the Governor, by
and with the advice and consent of the State Senate, and all
appointees appointed on and after June 1, 2014, shall hold
office for a term of six years, and until their successors
shall be appointed and qualified. Any trustee appointed to
serve a 12-year term before June 1, 2014, shall continue to
serve for the remainder of that term. As terms expire after
that date, appointments to fill positions on the board shall
be for six-year terms. The board shall be divided into three
classes, as nearly equal as may be, so that one thirdone-third
may be chosen as provided in Section 16-55-5. Vacancies
occurring in the office of trustee from death or resignation,
and the vacancies regularly occurring by expiration of the
term shall be filled by the Governor, and the appointee shall
hold office until the next meeting of the Legislature.
Successors to those trustees whose terms expire during an
interim shall hold office for the full term unless they are
rejected by the Senate. No trustee shall receive any pay or
emolument other than his or her actual expenses incurred in
the discharge of his or her duties as a trustee.
(b) As the terms of the trustees holding the seats for
each of the following combinations of state senatorial
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each of the following combinations of state senatorial
districts expire, the Governor shall appoint successor
trustees in accordance with subsection (a):
(1) The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Districts.
(2) The Nineteenth and Twentieth Districts.
(3) The Twenty-first District.
(4) The Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth, and Thirtieth
Districts.
(5) The Thirty-fifth District. "
"§16-55-6
(a) Seven members of the board of trustees shall
constitute a quorum, but a smaller number may adjourn from day
to day until a quorum is present. The board shall hold a
regular annual meeting each year at the university on the
first Monday in June, unless the board, in regular session,
shall determine determines to hold its meeting at some other
time and place.
(b)(1) Special meetings of the board may be called by
assembled by either one of the two methods outlined as
follows: Special meetings may be called by the :
a. The chair pro tempore of the board or the;
b. The Governor; or
c. The chair pro tempore of the board or the Governor,
upon application in writing of any three or more members of
the board.
(2) Once a special meeting is called, by written notice
mailed shall be provided to each trustee at least 24 hours
before the meeting is scheduled to begin at least 10 days in
advance of the date of the meeting; and a special meeting
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advance of the date of the meeting; and a special meeting
shall be called by the chair pro tempore or the Governor upon
application in writing of any three or more members of the
board. No special meeting shall be held on a date less than 10
days subsequent to the date of the chair pro tempore's or the
Governor's notice of the meeting , except in case of emergency,
which the chair pro tempore or the Governor shall specify in
his or her notice to the trustees."
Section 2. This act shall become effective on June 1,
2025.
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