AN ACT to reduce the number of members of the board of governors elected each regular session by the general assembly from sixteen to twelve and to make conforming changes.

Whereas, Section 8 of Article IX of the North Carolina Constitution provides that "The General Assembly shall maintain a public system of higher education, comprising The University of North Carolina and such other institutions of higher education as the General Assembly may deem wise"; and
Whereas, the 16 baccalaureate‑granting institutions that make up The University of North Carolina are under one governing board which is the Board of Governors; and
Whereas, the General Assembly, in compliance with the North Carolina Constitution, maintains a nationally recognized world‑class public system of higher education that serves the citizens of this State; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 116‑6(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	As the terms of members of the Board of Governors provided for in G.S. 116‑5 expire, their successors shall be elected by the Senate and House of Representatives. Twelve members shall be elected at the regular legislative session in 2017 and every two years thereafter. The Senate and the House of Representatives shall each elect one‑half of the persons necessary to fill the vacancies on the Board of Governors."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 116‑6.1 reads as rewritten:
"§ 116‑6.1.  Student member of the Board of Governors.
(a)	Commencing July 1, 1991, and during a person's continuance as a student in good standing at a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina, the person serving as president of the University of North Carolina Association of Student Governments (UNCASG) or the person's designee shall serve ex officio as a member of the Board of Governors. This student member shall be in addition to the 28 members elected to the Board of Governors.
(b)	The student member shall have all the rights and privileges of membership, except that the student member shall not have a vote."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 116‑6.1(a), as amended by Section 2 of this act, reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Commencing July 1, 1991, and during a person's continuance as a student in good standing at a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina, the person serving as president of the University of North Carolina Association of Student Governments (UNCASG) or the person's designee shall serve ex officio as a member of the Board of Governors. This student member shall be in addition to the 24 members elected to the Board of Governors."
SECTION 3.5.  Notwithstanding G.S. 116‑6(c), during the 2017 Regular Session of the General Assembly, the House of Representatives and the Senate shall hold their elections within 45 legislative days after appointments to their education committees are complete.
SECTION 4.  Sections 1, 3.5, and 4 of this act are effective when this act becomes law. Section 2 of this act becomes effective July 1, 2017. Section 3 of this act becomes effective July 1, 2019.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 21st day of February, 2017.

	s/	 Daniel J. Forest
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Tim Moore
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Roy Cooper
	 Governor

Approved 4:45 p.m. this 3rd day of March, 2017