SECTIONS 99000-99005 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 99000-99005

99000. The Governor is hereby authorized and directed to execute a
compact on behalf of this state with each or all of the 11 western
states and the States of Alaska and Hawaii for the purpose of
cooperating with such states in the formation of a Western Interstate
Commission for Higher Education. Notice of intention to withdraw
from such compact shall be executed and transmitted by the Governor.

99001. The form and contents of such compact shall be substantially
as provided in this section and the effect of its provisions shall
be interpreted and administered in conformity with the provisions of
this chapter.

Western Regional Higher Education Compact

The contracting states do hereby agree as follows:

Article 1

WHEREAS, The future of this Nation and of the Western States is
dependent upon the quality of the education of its youth; and
WHEREAS, Many of the Western States individually do not have
sufficient numbers of potential students to warrant the establishment
and maintenance within their borders of adequate facilities in all
of the essential fields of technical, professional, and graduate
training, nor do all of the states have the financial ability to
furnish within their borders institutions capable of providing
acceptable standards of training in all of the fields mentioned
above; and
WHEREAS, It is believed that the Western States, or groups of such
states within the region, co-operatively can provide acceptable and
efficient educational facilities to meet the needs of the region and
of the students thereof; now, therefore,
The States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana,
Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, and the
Territories of Alaska and Hawaii, do hereby covenant and agree as
follows:

Article 2

Each of the compacting states and territories pledges to each of
the other compacting states and territories faithful co-operation in
carrying out all the purposes of this compact.

Article 3

The compacting states and territories hereby create the Western
Interstate Commission for Higher Education, hereinafter called the
commission. Said commission shall be a body corporate of each
compacting state and territory and an agency thereof. The commission
shall have all the powers and duties set forth herein, including the
power to sue and be sued, and such additional powers as may be
conferred upon it by subsequent action of the respective legislatures
of the compacting states and territories.

Article 4

The commission shall consist of three resident members from each
compacting state or territory. At all times one commissioner from
each compacting state or territory shall be an educator engaged in
the field of higher education in the state or territory from which he
is appointed.
The commissioners from each state and territory shall be appointed
by the governor thereof as provided by law in such state or
territory. Any commissioner may be removed or suspended from office
as provided by the law of the state or territory from which he shall
have been appointed.
The terms of each commissioner shall be four years; provided,
however, that the first three commissioners shall be appointed as
follows; one for two years, one for three years, and one for four
years. Each commissioner shall hold office until his successor shall
be appointed and qualified. If any office becomes vacant for any
reason, the governor shall appoint a commissioner to fill the office
for the remainder of the unexpired term.

Article 5

Any business transacted at any meeting of the commission must be
by affirmative vote of a majority of the whole number of compacting
states and territories.
One or more commissioners from a majority of the compacting states
and territories shall constitute a quorum for the transacting of
business.
Each compacting state and territory represented at any meeting of
the commission is entitled to one vote.

Article 6

The commission shall elect from its number a chairman and a vice
chairman, and may appoint, and at its pleasure dismiss or remove,
such officers, agents, and employees as may be required to carry out
the purpose of this compact; and shall fix and determine their
duties, qualifications and compensation, having due regard for the
importance of the responsibilities involved.
The commissioners shall serve without compensation, but shall be
reimbursed for their actual and necessary expenses from the funds of
the commission.

Article 7

The commission shall adopt a seal and bylaws and shall adopt and
promulgate rules and regulations for its management and control.
The commission may elect such committees as it deems necessary for
the carrying out of its functions.
The commission shall establish and maintain an office within one
of the compacting states for the transaction of its business and may
meet at any time, but in any event must meet at least once a year.
The chairman may call such additional meetings and upon the request
of a majority of the commissioners of three or more compacting states
or territories shall call additional meetings.
The commission shall submit a budget to the governor of each
compacting state and territory at such time and for such period as
may be required.
The commission shall, after negotiations with interested
institutions, determine the cost of providing the facilities for
graduate and professional education for use in its contractual
agreements throughout the region.
On or before the fifteenth day of January of each year, the
commission shall submit to the governors and legislatures of the
compacting states and territories a report of its activities for the
preceding calendar year.
The commission shall keep accurate books of account, showing in
full its receipts and disbursements, and said books of account shall
be open at any reasonable time for inspection by the governor of any
compacting state or territory or his designated representative. The
commission shall not be subject to the audit and accounting procedure
of any of the compacting states or territories. The commission shall
provide for an independent annual audit.

Article 8

It shall be the duty of the commission to enter into such
contractual agreements with any institutions in the region offering
graduate or professional education and with any of the compacting
states or territories as may be required in the judgment of the
commission to provide adequate services and facilities of graduate
and professional education for the citizens of the respective
compacting states or territories. The commission shall first endeavor
to provide adequate services and facilities in the fields of
dentistry, medicine, public health, and veterinary medicine, and may
undertake similar activities in other professional and graduate
fields.
For this purpose the commission may enter into contractual
agreements--
(a) With the governing authority of any educational institution in
the region, or with any compacting state or territory, to provide
such graduate or professional educational services upon terms and
conditions to be agreed upon between contracting parties, and
(b) With the governing authority of any educational institution in
the region or with any compacting state or territory to assist in
the placement of graduate or professional students in educational
institutions in the region providing the desired services and
facilities, upon such terms and conditions as the commission may
prescribe.
It shall be the duty of the commission to undertake studies of
needs for professional and graduate educational facilities in the
region, the resources for meeting such needs, and the long-range
effects of the compact on higher education; and from time to time
prepare comprehensive reports on such research for presentation to
the Western Governors' Conference and to the legislatures of the
compacting states and territories. In conducting such studies, the
commission may confer with any national or regional planning body
which may be established. The commission shall draft and recommend to
the governors of the various compacting states and territories,
uniform legislation dealing with problems of higher education in the
region.
For the purposes of this compact the word "region" shall be
construed to mean the geographical limits of the several compacting
states and territories.

Article 9

The operating costs of the commission shall be apportioned equally
among the compacting states and territories.

Article 10

This compact shall become operative and binding immediately as to
those states and territories adopting it whenever five or more of the
States or Territories of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming,
Alaska, and Hawaii have duly adopted it prior to July 1, 1953. This
compact shall become effective as to any additional states or
territories adopting thereafter at the time of such adoption.

Article 11

This compact may be terminated at any time by consent of a
majority of the compacting states or territories. Consent shall be
manifested by passage and signature in the usual manner of
legislation expressing such consent by the legislature and governor
of such terminating state. Any state or territory may at any time
withdraw from this compact by means of appropriate legislation to
that end. Such withdrawal shall not become effective until two years
after written notice thereof by the governor of the withdrawing state
or territory accompanied by a certified copy of the requisite
legislative action is received by the commission. Such withdrawal
shall not relieve the withdrawing state or territory from its
obligations hereunder accruing prior to the effective date of
withdrawal. The withdrawing state or territory may rescind its action
of withdrawal at any time within the two-year period. Thereafter,
the withdrawing state or territory may be reinstated by application
to and the approval by a majority vote of the commission.

Article 12

If any compacting state or territory shall at any time default in
the performance of any of its obligations assumed or imposed in
accordance with the provisions of this compact, all rights,
privileges and benefits conferred by this compact or agreements
hereunder, shall be suspended from the effective date of such default
as fixed by the commission.
Unless such default shall be remedied within a period of two years
following the effective date of such default, this compact may be
terminated with respect to such defaulting state or territory by
affirmative vote of three-fourths of the other member states or
territories.
Any such defaulting state may be reinstated by: (a) performing all
acts and obligations upon which it has heretofore defaulted, and (b)
application to and the approval by a majority vote of the
commission.

99002. In furtherance of the provisions contained in the compact,
there shall be three commissioners from the State of California,
appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate. The qualifications and terms of the commissioners shall be in
accordance with Article 4 of the compact. A commissioner shall hold
office until his successor is appointed and qualified but such
successor's term shall expire four years from the legal date of
expiration of the term of his predecessor. Any commissioner may be
removed from office by the Governor upon charges and after a hearing.
The term of any commissioner who ceases to hold the required
qualifications shall terminate when a successor may be duly
appointed. Vacancies occurring in the office of a commissioner from
any reason or cause shall be filled for the unexpired term in the
same manner as for a full term appointment.
Each commissioner shall receive his necessary travel expenses
incurred in the performance of his official duties in behalf of the
commission.

99003. All officers of the state are hereby authorized and directed
to do all things falling within their respective provinces and
jurisdiction necessary or incidental to the carrying out of the
compact in every particular; it being hereby declared to be the
policy of this state to perform and carry out the compact and to
accomplish the purposes thereof. All officers, bureaus, departments
and persons of and in the state government or administration of the
state are hereby authorized and directed at convenient times and upon
request of the commission to furnish the commission with information
and data possessed by them and to aid such commission by any means
lying within their legal rights.

99004. The commission shall keep accurate accounts of its
activities and shall report to the Governor and the Legislature on or
before the 31st day of December in each year, setting forth in
detail the transactions conducted by it during that calendar year and
shall make recommendations for any legislative action deemed by it
advisable, including amendments to the statutes which may be
necessary to carry out the intent and purposes of the compact between
the signatory states.

99005. When the Governor on behalf of the state executes the
compact, he shall attach his signature thereto under a recital that
such compact is executed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter,
subject to the limitations and qualifications contained in this
chapter in aid and furtherance thereof.