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The Constitution of the
Preamble:
The purpose of the Sacramento State College Republicans shall be to represent all Republican and Conservative students attending California State University, Sacramento; to foster the expression of Republican and conservative values and principles on the Sacramento State campus by offering a forum for said expression and to support Republican candidates for office at the national state and local level.
Article I: Name and Affiliation
SECTION 1: The name of this organization shall be the "Sacramento State College Republicans," hereinafter referred to in this document by its official acronym "SSCR."
SECTION 2: SSCR shall be the officially recognized campus affiliated of the California College Republicans and of the College Republican National Committee, and shall be subject to and abide by the constitutions, bylaws and resolution thereof.
Article II: Membership
SECTION 1: All applicants will be granted or denied membership in SSCR in accordance with
SECTION 2: Membership in the organization shall consist of four tiers:
Active Membership:
Active Membership shall be open to all CSUS students. In order to maintain Active Membership, an individual must be currently enrolled in classes at CSUS. All active members in good standing are entitled to one vote on club business brought up at general or special meetings, and further are eligible to run for, or be appointed to, any open club positions.
Associate Membership:
Associate Members are eligible to participate in any and all club activities, but are not entitled to cast votes on club business or serve in any official capacity as club officers. Associate Membership is open to CSUS faculty and staff. Individuals not affiliated with CSUS may also be added as Associated Members by Executive Order.
Alumni Membership:
Alumni Membership shall be open to all CSUS alumni, regardless of past affiliations (or lack thereof) with the Sacramento State College Republicans. Alumni members are eligible to participate in any and all club activities, but are not entitled to cast votes on club business or serve in any official capacity as club officers.
Honorary Lifetime Membership:
Honorary Lifetime Membership can be bestowed, by Executive Order, upon any individual in recognition of his or her dedication, leadership, and service in cases where their performance is above the call of duty and worthy of honorable distinction. Any Honorary Lifetime Members who are also CSUS alumni shall serve as members of the Sacramento State College Republicans Alumni Advisory Council.
SECTION 3: Concurrent registration as a Republican voter, or intent to register as a Republican voter, is also required. (This qualification cannot be ignored. Proof of this qualification may be requested from the applicant by a two-thirds vote of the officers.) No other qualifications are required.
SECTION 4: Any applicant may, for any reason and by a majority vote of the officers in good standing, be denied membership. ("Majority" shall be defined as "50% plus one" for this and all mentions in this Constitution.) This applicant shall enjoy no "due process" rights, except that he or she shall be informed of the denial in a manner to be determined by the officers in good standing.
SECTION 5: Voting members shall attend at least two general club meetings each academic semester to be in good standing. Officers shall attend all general club meetings each academic semester, and not be under impeachment, to be in good standing. Once a member's good standing is lost, he or she loses all rights and privileges granted to him or her by this Constitution. A member's good standing may be returned, without attending the requisite number of meetings, by a three-fifths vote of the officers in good standing.
SECTION 6: Any member may, consistent with CSUS policies, be expelled from SSCR by a two-thirds vote of all the officers in good standing. The time, place and manner by which the expulsion shall take place are at the sole discretion of the officers in good standing. Any candidate for expulsion shall enjoy no "due process" rights, except that he or she shall be informed via e-mail, and before the first general meeting after his or her expulsion, of the expulsion. For the removal of officers, see article.
Article III: Officers
SECTION 1: The officers of SSCR shall be President, Executive Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Communications Director, Social Director, Membership Director and Immediate Past President. The order of succession of officers shall be in order of appearance as stated in the Constitution.
SECTION 2: The constitutionally required duties of the aforementioned officers:
President: He or she presides over all meetings. S/he has the power to call special meetings, as well as appoint committees and chairpersons. The President will oversee all committees and represent the club on public occasions. Furthermore, the President will enforce and carry out the Constitution.
Executive Vice President: He or she shall perform the duties of the President in his or her absence. Should the President be removed from office, the Executive Vice President shall perform the duties of President until a special election be held. He or she works with the Sacramento County Republican Central Committee, the California College Republicans, California Republican Party, and the Republican National Committee, as well as other conservative groups. The Executive Vice President shall be responsible for keeping the club updated and participating in local, statewide and national politics.
Treasurer: He or she shall be responsible for all financial matters, including the creation of a budget, fund raising, and issuing of payments.
Secretary: He or she shall serve as the organization's administrative record keeper. The Secretary is responsible for preparing agendas for each public meeting and record and distributes minutes of all public meetings. He or she is responsible for all organizational correspondences, and shall keep copies of all such correspondences on file.
Communications Director: He or she shall be responsible for all membership issues, including taking attendance at each meeting of the club or officers. He or she shall be responsible for informing the CSUS community, and any other relevant parties, SSCR's existence on-campus and of any SSCR projects.
Social Director: He or she shall be responsible for planning and organizing all club social events, and is encouraged to plan at least one social event per month to facilitate the upkeep of existing club members' morale and to allow new members to become better acquainted with generally active members. The Social Director works with the fundraising committee to organize social fundraising events, to which donors and potential donors should be invited.
Membership Director: He or she shall be responsible for soliciting new SSCR members and register Republican voters.
Immediate Past President: The Immediate Past President shall serve automatically upon completion of his presidential term. This is only an advisory role, however, may carry a vote on the Executive Board with the permission of the current president.
All officers shall be constitutionally obligated to perform all de facto responsibilities conferred upon them in the course of the occupancy of their offices.
SECTION 3: The Executive Board shall meet no less than once a month during the academic year. Meetings of the Executive Board are not open to the active club membership.
SECTION 4: Actions taken in an official capacity by the Executive Board shall be explained to the general club membership at general meetings during officer reports.
SECTION 5: The President, in cases where he or she feels it is necessary, may take actions on behalf of the club through Executive Order. In matters of actions taken through Executive Order, the President must formally report these actions to the Executive Board at the following board meeting. The Executive Board can choose to reverse decisions made through Executive Order through a 2/3 vote.
SECTION 6: All officers shall be elected, by secret ballot, by a majority of those present at a general club meeting, in good standing, and voting, between May 1 and May 31 of each calendar year. The meeting for election is to be announced via e-mail to all members not less than two weeks in advance. Each individual shall be limited to one term in any particular office, with a term consisting of one academic year. Interim officers, unless they serve more than two academic semesters, will be automatically nominated for their position, unless they resign. No individual may run for, or hold, more than two positions, unless authorized by a majority vote of the officers in good standing, before the election. Newly elected officers must submit campus recognition forms according to
SECTION 7: Nominations of candidates for office in SSCR shall be made from the floor by any member or officers in good standing; self-nomination is not authorized. All nominees for officer positions must be members or officers in good standing. A presidential nominee must have been a member or officer in good standing for three consecutive academic semesters and must have also played a significant part is at least three major SSCR projects.
SECTION 8: Any officer may resign their positions by submitting formal letters of resignation to both the Secretary and the President. The resignation shall be deemed effective at the following general meeting, at which time plans should be made to hold a special election for that position no later than two week from the date on which the vacancy is announced publicly. The President may appoint an individual to fill that position in the interim period prior to elections if he or she deems it necessary.
SECTION 9: Should the President become incapacitated, the Executive Board may choose to elevate the Executive Vice President to assume the President's duties until the President is able to resume office. Such an action requires a 2/3 vote of the Executive Board.
SECTION 10: Should the President choose to resign, the Executive Vice President shall be automatically elevated to the position of President. In the event that this occurs, the new President shall publicly assume office at the following general meeting, and shall call for a special election for the office of Executive Vice President no later than two weeks after assuming office.
Article IV: Board of Directors and Appointed Positions
SECTION 1: The Board of Directors will consist of members of SSCR who are appointed by existing members of the Board of Directors or members of the Executive Board and confirmed by a majority vote of the Executive Board.
SECTION 2: The President may appoint additional officers with the approval of a majority of the Executive Board.
SECTION 3: All appointed positions shall be created by the President at his or her own discretion followed by approval of the Executive Board. These positions shall be created in order to assist the President in fulfilling his/her duties, e.g. Executive Director, Webmaster, Inter-club officer(s), Events Coordinator, Marketing Director, Officer At-Large, GOTV Coordinator, Historian, Parliamentarian and Sergeant-at-Arms.
SECTION 4: Within three weeks of the beginning of the Fall Semester, the President shall appoint a club member to the position of Chief of Staff, an office requiring unanimous approval of the elected officers of the Executive Board. The Chief of Staff shall serve as an ex-officio, non-voting member of the Executive Board, and is mandated to act as an executive assistant to the President. He or she shall additionally be charged with oversight of the operation of all appointed positions and committees. The Chief of Staff may be removed from office by a 2/3 vote of the Executive Board; in such a case, the President shall appoint a new individual to assume the position of Chief of Staff, to be approved by a 2/3 vote of the Executive Board.
SECTION 5: In order for an appointed officer to resign, he or she must follow the same procedure as that applied to elected officers, as outlined with Article 3, Section 8 of this document.
Article V: Impeachment
SECTION 1: The Executive Board may remove, censure or reprove any regular or appointive member or officer who, during his term of membership, affiliates with or registers as a member of a party other than the Republican Party, publicly advocates that the voters should not vote for the nominee of the Party for any office, or who gives support to or avows a preference for any publicly announced candidate of a party other than the Republican Party or for a candidate for partisan office who is opposed to a candidate nominated by the Republican Party; has acted negligibly or incompetently in the performance of his or her constitutional or de facto duties; has willfully impeded the SSCR programs; and/or is no longer in good standing, may be impeached and removed from office.
SECTION 2: Specific charges against impeached officers must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the officers in good standing, excluding the officer being impeached, at a general club meeting. Once charges are approved, the officer under impeachment is no longer in good standing.
SECTION 3: From the approval of the charges, until the next general club meeting, the impeached officer shall enjoy the right to prepare his or her defense to the charges. At least seven calendar days must be present between the approval of the charges and the next meeting of the club.
SECTION 4: At the first general club meeting after the meeting in which the charges were approved, an officer in good standing shall present the charges, and the impeached officer shall present his or her defense. Following these presentations, the impeached officer may be removed from his or her office by a three-fifths vote of all those present club members, who are in good standing, and are voting. Any ballot case shall be a secret ballot.
SECTION 5: Any convicted officer is automatically expelled from the club. Any officer impeached, but not convicted, cannot be subject to any official retaliatory actions, especially expulsion from the club. Furthermore, an impeached, but non-convicted officer automatically regains his or her good standing thirty-one days after his or her trial.
Article VI: Committees
SECTION 1: There shall be two standing committees within the organization that shall continually function throughout the calendar year. Members can be added to, or removed from, these committees at the discretion of their respective chairs or by Executive Order. Both the committee chairs and Executive Board reserve the right to remove committee members in situations where they feel it is necessary.
Membership Committee:
The Membership Committee shall be mandated to develop and implement strategies to increase the club's membership. The Membership Committee shall be chaired by the Membership Director, and shall operate under the oversight of the Communications Director.
Fundraising Committee:
The Fundraising Committee shall be mandated to develop and implement strategies to raise funds for the club's general account, through strategies including, but not limited to, donation seeking and sponsored activities. It shall be chaired by the Treasurer.
SECTION 2: The President, at his or her own discretion, may create Ad-Hoc, non-standing Committees through Executive Order for the purposes of facilitating club business. Ad-Hoc committees do not require approval, but can be removed by a 2/3 vote of the Executive Board. The President must appoint an active, voting club member in good standing to chair a newly formed Ad-Hoc Committee.
Article VII: Meetings
SECTION 1: The Executive Board shall fix the hour and the place of the general or special meetings.
SECTION 2: The Executive Board is mandated to meet as frequently as deemed necessary by the President, and is encouraged to convene at least one time per month.
SECTION 3: Notice of all public meetings shall be given to club members in the most complete manner possible. Any member of the student body or the general public may freely attend a public meeting; disruptive individuals, however, will be asked to leave.
Article VIII: Elections
SECTION 1: The Club's elected officers shall be elected in an annual election held at the end of the spring semester on campus.
SECTION 2: To be eligible to vote in a SSCR election, a club member must:
Have been a club member for at least two months prior to the election
Have attended at least (2) general meetings in the current academic year
SECTION 3: Club members must be present at the annual election meeting to vote. Members who arrive more than fifteen minutes after the annual election meeting has been called to order shall be considered absent for purposes of this Constitution, and they shall not be allowed to vote.
SECTION 4: All voting shall be conducted by secret ballot. The election results shall be announced before the adjournment of the annual election meeting.
Article IX: Endorsements
SECTION 1: The organization has the power to endorse any Republican political candidate, running for any office, by a majority vote during a general meeting. In cases of endorsement where the specified candidate is running against another Republican candidate (as is the case in primaries), a 2/3 vote is required to endorse that candidate.
SECTION 2: Endorsements for a candidate in a partisan race require that all candidates speak to the club. The President shall be responsible for inviting candidates to make presentations.
SECTION 3: Endorsements for a candidate or issue must be tabled one meeting prior to the meeting it is acted upon and require a majority vote of those members present and voting.
SECTION 4: The delegates to the California College Republicans Convention must be approved by the Executive Board. Only active, voting members in good standing are eligible to serve as delegates. a) Delegates: Delegates for the annual California College Republican Convention shall be chosen by a majority vote of the Executive Board, and based on active participation in the Organization. The delegates shall be announced two weeks prior to the Convention
b) Proxies: Proxy votes for the California College Republican Convention shall be assigned to officers of the Executive Board with one proxy allocated to each officer until available proxies are diminished.
Article X: Allocation of Club Funds
SECTION 1: All expenditures of club funds shall be made to cover approved, club-related activities.
SECTION 2: Expenditures of club funds or reimbursements over $150 must be approved by the club's members at a general meeting.
SECTION 3: Expenditures of club funds or reimbursements over $40 but no greater than $149.99 must be approved by the Executive Board
SECTION 4: Expenditures of club funds or reimbursements no greater than $39.99 can be made at the discretion of the President through Executive Order, but must be reported to the Executive Board at the following Executive Board meeting.
SECTION 5: Approval of the use of club funds shall require a simple majority vote of members at a general meeting (for those covered by Section 2) or a majority vote of officers present at an Executive Board meeting (if covered by Section 3).
SECTION 6: With respect to Section 4 of this article, the President's approval of expenditures shall not accumulate to more than $150 during a given quarter without approval of the Executive Board.
SECTION 7: No officer or member shall break down the appropriations of the funds for a given event or cause in order to circumvent one of the aforementioned levels of regulation.
SECTION 8: The President and Treasurer shall both be responsible for ensuring the provisions of this section are carried out.
Article XI: Amendments
SECTION 1: Any and all parts of this Constitution may be amended, deleted, or moved by a three-fifths vote of all club members, in good standing, present at a general club meeting, and voting.
SECTION 2: Only SSCR officers in good standing are authorized to begin the amendment process.
SECTION 3: Unless otherwise noted, no part of this Constitution may be changed in any fashion, except by amendment.
SECTION 4: New amendments must be tabled one meeting prior to the meeting it is acted upon.
SECTION 5: Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised shall be the parliamentary authority for all disputed matters not specifically covered by this Constitution or subsequent Bylaws.
Article XII: Representing SSCR
SECTION 1: No individual (whether club member or officer) may, without the express authorization of a majority of the officers in good standing, represent SSCR in any official capacity, whether actual or perceived, unless otherwise authorized by this Constitution. Forms of representation include, but are not limited to, publishing articles on behalf of SSCR in any on-campus newspaper; acting on behalf of SSCR before any CSUS administrator, faculty, or event, whether off or on-campus; acting as a club representative to the California Republican Party, the Republican Party of Sacramento County, or the California College Republicans. Violations of this article are grounds for impeachment or expulsion from the club.
Article XIII: Suspension of the Constitution
SECTION 1: This Constitution may, in whole or in part, be suspended by a unanimous vote of all officers in good standing.
SECTION 2: The time, place and manner by which the suspension shall occur are at the sole discretion of the officers in good standing.
Article XIV: Procedure for Organizational Termination
SECTION 1: To dissolve the Sacramento State College Republicans, there must be a unanimous vote by the executive board and the club membership at a special meeting called with at least 2 weeks prior notice given to all members in the most thorough manner possible. Quorum for this vote shall require two-thirds of the organization's active members in good standing.
SECTION 2: Should the club dissolve, the President of record shall immediately make arrangements to transfer the club's assets to the California College Republicans state organization. Should the President be unavailable, this transaction should be facilitated by the Treasurer of record.
SECTION 3: In the event that this club should become defunct, all of the club's monetary assets should be donated to the California College Republicans state organization. Indefinite inactivity of the club does not constitute defunct status.
Article XVI: Interpretation
SECTION 1: Any interpretation given to the language in this Constitution has to meet with the approval of the President and may be overruled by two-thirds of all the officers in good standing.
Article XVII: Constitutional Record
SECTION 1: This Constitution was adopted at a general meeting of the Sacramento State College Republicans on
SECTION 2: This Constitution, in its current state, stands unamended from its original draft, presented by Executive Vice President Aaron J. Piņa on
