SUMMARY OF BYLAW
AND CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES
REFERENDUM 2016
Referendum Rule Revisions
1) It is specified that referendum questions may not be leading and may not call for
doing anything illegal.
2) If a question is unclear or leading, or calls for something illegal, it will be redrafted
(if possible) through AMS Council rather than the (largely defunct) Student Court.
Housekeeping and Societies Act Compliance Revisions
This year, the new Societies Act is replacing the old Society Act. This necessitates
several changes to our Bylaws which are listed below, along with updates to outdated
provisions:
Changes required by the new Societies Act:
1) Special resolutions of the membership will now require two-thirds majorities to
pass (instead of 75%).
2) In accordance with the Societies Act, students as young as 16 (but no younger)
are declared eligible to be voting members of Council. Note: If we don’t make this
declaration, the minimum age will be the default of 18 as per the new Act.
Unfortunately there is no way under the legislation to let people under 16 serve
on Council as voting members.
3) References to the Society Act are changed to the Societies Act.
4) The location of the AMS is set out in the Bylaws rather than the Constitution.
5) Dissolution procedures are set out in the Bylaws rather than the Constitution and
no longer made unalterable.
Other updates:
6) It is made explicit that the President may be a voting member of committees, but
may not sit on a committee meant to oversee the President.
7) The time that the Board of Governors student representatives take their seats on
AMS Council is changed to be as soon as the University declares them to be
Board members.
8) The time that the two Student Senators on Council take their seats is changed to
be as soon as they are appointed to Council by the Student Senators.
9) The number of members of the Budget Committee is increased by one and
Council Senators are made eligible to sit on it.
10) Council is given the power to set the remuneration for directors.
11) The Constituency Aid Fund and the Clubs Benefit Fund are removed from the
Bylaws but are still contained in the Code. This will allow Council to amalgamate
the two funds, and make other efficiency improvements without needing a further
referendum.
12) The list of Constituencies is updated to include Economics and to change
Human Kinetics to Kinesiology.
13) It is made clear that the Board of Governors student representatives on AMS
Council are the representatives from UBC Vancouver (excluding the UBCO
representative).
14) References to the Student Union Building are removed or changed to the AMS
Student Nest.
15) The term “association” as a synonym for “club” is removed.
16) Rules for giving notice will refer to “days” instead of “clear days.”