Colorado § 23-60-104 - State board for community colleges and occupational education - student advisory council - state advisory council.

§ 23-60-104. State board for community colleges and occupational education - student advisory council - state advisory council.

(1) (a) Repealed.

(b) There is created a state board for community colleges and occupational education. The board is a body corporate and has the authority to adopt a seal and to receive, demand, and hold for all occupational education purposes and for any educational institution under its jurisdiction such money, lands, or other property as may be donated, bequeathed, appropriated, or otherwise made available to the board, and it may use such property in the interests of community and technical colleges and occupational education in this state.

(2) (a) (I) The board consists of:

(A) One member from each congressional district in the state, appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate;

(B) Two members from the state at large, appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate; and

(C) Two members selected pursuant to subsection (2)(a)(III) of this section.

(II) The board shall appoint a director of occupational education and a director of community and technical colleges with the qualifications and background specified by the board. No appointed member shall be an employee of any local district college, community or technical college, school district or agency receiving vocational funds allocated by the board, private institution of higher education, or state or private occupational school in the state. No appointed member shall be an elected or appointed statewide official of the state of Colorado or member of the governing board of any state-supported institution of higher education. The board must at no time have more than a minimum majority of the appointed members affiliated with any one political party. Members of the board shall be appointed so as to ensure that all geographic areas of the state are represented. A state student advisory council of student members who are enrolled for a minimum of nine hours shall be elected, one each, from and by the student bodies of each of the campuses governed by the board.

(III) The first additional member must be a student at a college of a state system of community colleges, and the second additional member must be a member of the faculty of a college of the state system of community colleges. Such members shall be elected in accordance with procedures established by the board, which procedures must take into account all the colleges within the state system of community colleges. The term of said offices is one year. Said offices are advisory, without the right to vote and without the right to attend executive sessions.

(b) The term of office for each member appointed by the governor is four years; except that a member of the board who is appointed by the governor shall continue to serve until a successor is appointed and confirmed by the senate, and the terms of members appointed by the governor shall be staggered so that no more than a minimum majority of the appointed members' terms expire in the same year. The terms of the offices of members of the state student advisory council shall be one year. A member appointed to the board shall not serve for more than two consecutive full four-year terms. Members of the board shall receive fifty dollars per diem for attendance at official meetings, plus actual and necessary expenses incurred in the conduct of official business.

(c) If a member appointed by the governor moves out of the congressional district from which the member was appointed, a vacancy is created. A member who moves out of such congressional district shall promptly notify the governor of the date of such move, but such notice is not required for the vacancy to occur. Any vacancy in the office of any member of the board appointed by the governor shall be filled by appointment of the governor with the consent of the senate for the unexpired term. Any vacancy on the state student advisory council shall be filled for the unexpired term by appointment by the duly elected student government of the affected campus within thirty days after such vacancy occurs.

(3) Repealed.

(4) The board shall appoint an executive officer of the board, who shall serve at the pleasure of the board and shall receive compensation commensurate with his duties as determined by the board. Offices held by the executive officer and professional personnel are declared to be educational in nature and not under the state personnel system.

Source: L. 67: p. 438, § 4. C.R.S. 1963: § 124-26-4. L. 71: p. 1305, § 7. L. 72: p. 552, § 19. L. 73: p. 1335, § 1. L. 75: (2) amended, p. 741, § 8, effective January 1, 1976; (2)(a) amended, p. 509, § 2, effective January 1, 1976. L. 77: (2) amended, p. 1126, § 1, effective July 1. L. 78: (2)(a) amended, p. 383, § 1, effective March 17; (3) amended, p. 385, § 1, effective April 4. L. 79: (2)(a) amended, p. 1637, § 36, effective July 19. L. 81: (2)(a) amended, p. 852, § 29, effective July 1. L. 82: (2)(a) and (2)(b) amended, p. 353, § 10, effective April 30. L. 85: (2)(a) amended, p. 769, § 27, effective July 1. L. 86: (3) amended, p. 415, § 26, effective March 26; entire section amended, p. 838, § 2, effective April 14. L. 91: (3) amended, p. 695, § 10, effective April 20; (2)(b) amended, p. 900, § 40, effective June 5. L. 97: (3) repealed, p. 1093, § 1, effective May 27. L. 2001: (2)(a)(I) amended, p. 146, § 2, effective March 23. L. 2006: (2)(b) amended, p. 1234, § 9, effective May 26. L. 2019: (2)(b) amended, (HB 19-1152), ch. 58, p. 199, § 1, effective March 28. L. 2022: (1)(a) repealed and (2) amended, (SB 22-013), ch. 2, p. 42, § 52, effective February 25. L. 2025: (1)(b) amended, (SB 25-275), ch. 377, p. 2055, § 122, effective August 6.

Editor's note: Amendments to subsection (2) in Senate Bill 75-384 and House Bill 75-1232 were harmonized.

ANNOTATION

The authority of a state created agency must be found in the statute creating the same. Colo. Polytechnic Coll. v. State Bd. for Cmty. Colls., 173 Colo. 39, 476 P.2d 38 (1970).

Where no constitutional or legislative authority, express or implied, is to be found conferring an appointive power upon the governor or authority upon the state board to act on behalf of the federal government as a "state approving agency" for approval or nonapproval of courses offered to veterans, in the absence of enabling act conferring such power and authority upon the governor and the state board, the actions of the governor and the state board was a nullity. Colo. Polytechnic Coll. v. State Bd. for Cmty. Colls., 173 Colo. 39, 476 P.2d 38 (1970).

Any laws and regulations that would operate in contravention of the constitutional underpinnings of the state board for community colleges and occupational education and the state land board and their constitutionally and statutorily conferred duties and powers must necessarily evidence a "clear and unmistakable" intent on the part of the general assembly to repeal the conflicting special statutory and constitutional provisions. City of Littleton v. State, 832 P.2d 985 (Colo. App. 1991).

If the laws and regulations have an impact on the lands held by the state land board, the legislative scheme must neither create a body with authority equivalent to that vested in the board nor create a situation which results in the diversion of revenues from the public school funds. City of Littleton v. State, 832 P.2d 985 (Colo. App. 1991).

The state board for community colleges and occupational education is by definition a state agency, not a "person" under a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action, and no action for damages may be maintained against it under that statute. Nat'l Camera, Inc. v. Sanchez, 832 P.2d 960 (Colo. App. 1991).

The state board for community colleges and occupational education is an instrumentality of the state, far more akin to state universities and their governing bodies than to municipalities and local school boards. Therefore, the board enjoys eleventh amendment immunity as an instrumentality or arm of the state of Colorado. Sturdevant v. Paulsen, 218 F.3d 1160 (10th Cir. 2000).

Trial court erred in dismissing 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim against the members of the state board for community colleges and occupational education since the availability of judicial review pursuant to this section did not preclude such action. Nat'l Camera, Inc. v. Sanchez, 832 P.2d 960 (Colo. App. 1991).

Applied in Hansen v. Colo. Sch. of Mines, 42 Colo. App. 292, 599 P.2d 928 (1979); Rivas v. State Bd., 517 F. Supp. 467 (D. Colo. 1981).