Petitions

Any member of the Association wishing to propose an amendment to the Constitution shall submit the text of that amendment to the Senate Chair, along with a statement specifying whether the amendment is intended for placement on the ballot in the Spring Quarter general election, or in a special election. The Chair shall then give notice of that amendment at the next regular meeting of the Senate which begins at least 24 hours after the proposed amendment was received.

If the Senate has not placed the proposed amendment on the ballot for the specified election by the end of the regular meeting of the Senate following the meeting at which notice was given, then petitions proposing that amendment may be circulated by members of the Association. All such petitions shall contain the text of the proposed amendment and of the parts of the Constitution to be affected thereby.

1. If such a petition containing the signatures of at least 5 percent of the members of the Association is submitted to the Elections Commission at least 21 days prior to the Spring Quarter general election, or at least 14 days prior to a previously-called special election in which all members of the Association are entitled to vote, the Commission shall place the amendment on the ballot in the election for which the petition was submitted, provided that it finds the petition to be valid.

2. If such a petition containing the signatures of at least 15 percent of the members of the Association is submitted to the Elections Commission, the Commission shall, within 48 hours after the petition was found to be valid, call an election on the amendment. The Senate may subsequently amend the call of this election, provided that it acts within 7 days after the petition was found to be valid. The election on the amendment shall be held not less than 7 nor more than 21 days after the opening of the following quarter. For the purposes of this section, the quarter following the Spring Quarter shall be the Autumn Quarter.

3. The Senate may, by a vote of two-thirds of its membership, schedule an earlier election for any proposed amendment which has qualified for the ballot by petition.

The Senate shall have the authority to establish regulations defining the proper form for petitions and governing the circulation thereof.