A 5979: Provides for the inclusion of a faculty or staff member on the board of trustees of community colleges elected by and from among the faculty and staff of the college.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5979 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY February 25, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BRONSON, LUNSFORD, CLARK, SLATER, JENSEN, EPSTEIN, SAYEGH, SHIMSKY, OTIS, MORINELLO, STIRPE, MEEKS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to including a faculty or staff member on the board of trustees of community colleges The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The opening paragraph of subdivision 1 of section 6306 of 2 the education law, as amended by chapter 268 of the laws of 2003, is 3 amended to read as follows: 4 Each community college, except in the city of New York, shall be 5 administered by a board of trustees of [ten] eleven members, nine of 6 whom shall be appointed for terms of seven years in annual rotation, and 7 [one member] two members elected as herein provided, except that initial 8 appointments shall be made for terms of one to nine years respectively. 9 Five members shall be appointed by the local legislative body or board, 10 or other appropriate governing agency, one of whom may be a member of 11 such local legislative body or board, or other appropriate governing 12 agency, four, from among persons residing in the sponsoring community, 13 by the governor and one member elected by and from among the students of 14 the college who shall serve as a member of the board for a one-year 15 term, provided, however, that the term of the student member first 16 elected shall be nine months commencing October first, nineteen hundred 17 seventy-five, and one of whom shall be elected by and from among the 18 faculty and staff of the college, ex-officio and non-voting, who shall 19 serve a two-year term, provided, however, that the term of the faculty 20 or staff member first elected shall commence July first, two thousand 21 twenty-six. The faculty or staff member and student member shall be 22 afforded the same parliamentary privileges as are conferred upon voting 23 members, including but not limited to the right to make and second 24 motions and to place items on the agenda. Such faculty or staff and EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00418-01-5 
 A. 5979 2 1 student member shall be subject to every provision of any general, 2 special or local law, ordinance, charter, code, rule or regulation 3 applying to the members of such board with respect to the discharge of 4 their duties including, but not limited to, those provisions setting 5 forth codes of ethics, disclosure requirements and prohibiting business 6 and professional activities. The election of the student member shall be 7 conducted in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the 8 respective representative campus student association in accordance with 9 guidelines established by the state university trustees. The election of 10 the faculty or staff member shall be conducted in accordance with rules 11 and regulations promulgated by the respective faculty senate or equiv- 12 alent faculty shared governance body of each campus. In the event that 13 the student member ceases to be a student at the institution, [he] they 14 shall be required to resign. In the event that the faculty or staff 15 member ceases to be an employee at the institution, they shall be 16 required to resign. The governor's initial appointments shall be for 17 terms of two, four, six and eight years respectively and those by local 18 authorities for terms of one, three, five, seven and nine years respec- 19 tively. Vacancies shall be filled for unexpired terms in the same manner 20 as original selections by the authority responsible for the original 21 selection. The board shall select its own [chairman] chair from among 22 its voting membership. Where two or more local sponsors join in the 23 establishment of a community college, the apportionment of the appoint- 24 ments among them shall be made by the state university trustees. Trus- 25 tees shall receive no compensation for their services but shall be reim- 26 bursed for their expenses actually and necessarily incurred by them in 27 the performance of their duties under this article. Members initially 28 appointed or elected under this subdivision to the board of trustees of 29 any community college hereafter established shall take office immediate- 30 ly upon their selection and qualification, but for purposes of determin- 31 ing the expiration of their respective terms and the commencement of the 32 terms of their successors, the term of office of each such initial 33 member shall be deemed to have commenced on the first day of July of the 34 year in which such college was established. The terms of office of all 35 members of the boards of trustees of community colleges heretofore 36 established, appointed or elected as provided in this subdivision, shall 37 terminate on the thirtieth day of June of the calendar year within which 38 such terms expire under the provisions of this subdivision as hereby 39 amended. For the purpose of determining such year all initial terms of 40 office of appointed members of the boards of trustees of community 41 colleges heretofore established shall be deemed to have commenced on the 42 first day of July of the year in which such colleges were established 43 and the terms of their successors for full terms, if any, shall be 44 deemed to have commenced upon the expiration of the number of years from 45 such date for which such initial appointments were made. 46 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.