§ 4551. Human Rights Commission; members; compensation

(a) The Human Rights Commission is hereby established. It shall consist of five members to be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall designate one member to be its Chair. No more than three members shall be of the same political party. At least one member shall be of a racial minority.

(b) The members of the Commission shall be appointed for terms of five years each, except that of the members first appointed, the Governor shall designate one for a term of one year, one for a term of two years, one for a term of three years and one for a term of four years. A member of the Commission appointed to fill a vacancy occurring other than by expiration of a term shall be appointed only for the unexpired portion of the term. Members of the Commission shall be eligible for reappointment.

(c) A member of the Commission whose term has expired or who resigned during a term shall be eligible to act as an alternate at the request of the Executive Director of the Commission if necessary to convene a quorum of the Commission to act upon complaints pursuant to section 4554 of this title. An alternate shall only participate in the consideration of complaints at meetings attended and shall not be involved in setting the policies of the Commission.

(d) Each member of the Commission, including an alternate who is called to act, shall receive compensation as provided by 32 V.S.A. § 1010 with a maximum of $1,000.00 a year, and shall be entitled to expenses actually and necessarily incurred in the performance of his or her duties.

(e) Three members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum. Alternate members may not make up a majority of a quorum. (Added 1987, No. 234 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2005, No. 71, § 98b; 2007, No. 192 (Adj. Sess.), § 6.000.)