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‘Board members and commissioners should be co-terminus with governor’
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Posted on Feb 16 2006
Whether they like it or not, board members and commissioners who are not appointed by the current governor would have to leave their posts—if a bill recently introduced in the Senate is enacted into law.
The measure, Senate Bill 15-35, authored by Sen. Pete P. Reyes, provides that the term of board members and commission members should be co-terminus with the appointing governor.
“Members shall serve for a term not to exceed the tenure of the governor who appointed the members,” said a portion of the bill, which amends the Commonwealth Code on the term of members of boards and commissions.
The term of members not appointed by the current governor would expire 60 calendar days from the effectivity of the act, “unless the governor exempts or extends the expiration of such term,” said the bill.
Reyes said his proposal would “give the governor better control over the appointment of board and commission members.”
He said that limiting members’ tenure to match that of the administration “will provide a safeguard against errant or unproductive boards and commissions, and thus far preserve the integrity, harmony, and cooperation both within the agency and with other government entities.”
Reyes said the existing policy—staggered terms of boards and commission members—has commendable purpose, which is to ensure order, continuity, and stability in the overall supervision and administration of agencies.
He said, though, that problems arise when vacancies go unfilled for lack of qualified appointees at a given time and when board members or commissioners could no longer work in harmony with other agencies, the administration, or the Legislature.
