§304A-104  Regents; appointment; tenure;qualifications; meetings.  (a)  The affairs of the university shall beunder the general management and control of the board of regents consisting of fifteenmembers who shall be appointed and may be removed by the governor.  Except asotherwise provided by law, state officers shall be eligible for appointment andmembership.  The term of each member shall be five years, except as providedfor the initial appointment in section 26-11; provided that the term of the studentmember shall be two years.  Every member may serve beyond the expiration dateof the member's term of appointment until the member's successor has beenappointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate in accordance witharticle X, section 6 of the Hawaii Constitution.  Members shall serve no morethan two consecutive five-year terms; provided that the members who areinitially appointed to terms of two years or less pursuant to section 26-11(a)may be reappointed to two ensuing five-year terms.  If a member is to beappointed to a second term of five years, the senate shall consider thequestion of whether to reconfirm the member at least one hundred twenty daysprior to the conclusion of a member's first five-year term; provided that ifthe senate is not in session within one hundred twenty days prior to theconclusion of the member's first five-year term, the member shall continue toserve until the senate convenes for the next regular session or the nextspecial session for which the senate is authorized to consider the question ofreconfirmation.

(b)  At its first meeting after June 30, theboard of regents shall elect a chairperson and vice-chairperson, who shallserve until adjournment of its first meeting after June 30 of the next year orthereafter until their successors are appointed.  The board shall appoint asecretary, who shall not be a member of the board.  The president of theuniversity shall act as executive officer of the board.  From May 1, 2007 anduntil such time that the board of regents has at least fourteen members, sevenmembers of the board of regents shall constitute a quorum to conduct business,and the concurrence of at least seven members of the board of regents shall benecessary to make any action of the board of regents valid; provided that uponfilling at least fourteen of the fifteen board of regents seats required undersubsection (a), a majority of the board of regents shall constitute a quorum toconduct business, and the concurrence of a majority of all the members to whichthe board of regents is entitled shall be necessary to make any action of theboard of regents valid.  The board shall meet at least ten times annually and,from time to time, may meet in each of the counties of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai.

(c)  The governor shall notify the regentscandidate advisory council in writing within ten days of receiving notificationthat a member of the board of regents is resigning, has died, or is beingremoved by the governor.

(d)  The members of the board of regents shallserve without pay but shall be entitled to their travel expenses within the Statewhen attending meetings of the board or when actually engaged in businessrelating to the work of the board. [L 2006, c 75, pt of §2; am L 2007, c 56, §4;am L Sp 2008, c 9, §3]

 

Revision Note

 

  "May 1, 2007" substituted for "the effectivedate of this Act".

 

Cross References

 

  Boards, generally, see §26-34.

 

Case Notes

 

  Respondent's application of the holdover provision ofsubsection (a) to the six regents whose terms had expired contravened SessionLaws of Hawaii 2007, Act 56, §§1 and 5 and was contrary to the modifiedappointment process for regents prescribed by the Hawaii constitution, articleX, §6.  119 H. 341, 198 P.3d 604.

  The governor's nondiscretionary duty -- pursuant to theHawaii constitution, article X, §6, §304A-104.5(e) and subsection (a) -- tonominate and appoint members of the board of regents of the university ofHawaii, is subject to a reasonable time standard; reasonable time is judged by thetotality of the circumstances; the passage of nearly ten months since thegovernor was presented with the regent candidate list was an unreasonableperiod of time for the governor to perform this constitutional and statutoryduty and the governor was thus subject to mandamus.  119 H. 341, 198 P.3d 604.