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Financial Bylaws

ARTICLE I: STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The purpose of these By-Laws is to define procedures by which financial transactions are conducted and enable the Graduate Student Association to conduct business in such a manner so that it may work to the benefit of all graduate students.

ARTICLE II: AUTHORIZATION OF EXPENDITURES

The Council of the Graduate Student Association (the Council) reserves the right to control all financial transactions including assets, liabilities and fund balances (which includes revenues and expenditures) of the Graduate Student Association and the procedures by which such are handled. The Council delegates to the Vice-President of Finance the oversight and authority over all revenues and expenditures for officer's compensation, staff salaries, office operation, and organizational expenses within the approved budget limits for each category. The Finance Committee will review all requests for monies from the Appropriations Fund and travel requests over $1,000.00 for an individual event. The Finance Committee will submit recommendations to the Council for approval. No request shall be considered by the Council without a recommendation from the Finance Committee. Should the position of the Vice-President of Finance become vacant, the President of the Graduate Student Association shall act in that capacity.

ARTICLE III: ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE
With concurrence of the GSA Council, a standing committee shall be established by the Vice-President of Finance to review and make recommendations to the Council on the GSA budget and financial requests for monies from the Appropriations Fund.

Section I: Membership

The Finance Committee shall consist of the Vice-President of Finance, who shall chair the meetings, and GSA Council representatives voted to this committee by the Council. Elected committee members shall serve until the first Council meeting of the subsequent fall quarter. The Council reserves the right to remove representatives from the Finance Committee by a simple majority vote. The GSA staff member who is responsible for GSA financial record keeping shall be an ex-officio non-voting member. All GSA executive officers shall be ex-officio voting members. The Vice-President of Finance shall be allowed to vote only in the case of a tie.

Section II: Powers and Responsibilities

  1. The Vice-President of Finance shall have the following powers and responsibilities:
    1. The VP Finance shall ensure that the GSA financial records are accurate and kept up to date.
    2. The VP Finance shall have oversight and authority over expenditures for officer's compensation, staff salaries, office operations, and organizational expenses within the approved budget limits for each category. At any time, if the VP Finance does not feel that an expense is appropriate, he/she may discuss it with the Finance Committee for its recommendation and, if necessary, forward it to the Council for further review and approval.
    3. The VP Finance shall submit the Finance Committee's recommendations regarding the budget and allocations from the Appropriations Fund to the GSA Council for approval. The recommendations shall be submitted, in writing, to the Council with the agenda for its next regular meeting. The VP Finance shall be prepared to provide reasons for the recommendations at the Council meeting.
    4. For allocations from the Appropriations Fund, the VP Finance shall ensure that:
      a. The Finance Committee's recommendations and the GSA Council's actions are written on the financial request forms and that those funds are spent on what was requested and approved;
      b. a separate financial log is kept for allocations made each year;
      c. historical funding files for each department are maintained and funding requests with copies of actual expenditures are placed in those files at the end of fiscal year.
    5. The VP Finance shall oversee any fundraising activities conducted by the GSA.
    6. The VP Finance shall keep detailed, accurate, up to date records of expenditures incurred from the VP Finance Discretionary Fund.
  2. The Finance Committee shall have the following powers and responsibilities:
    1. The Finance Committee shall hold meetings to review the budget and any requests for monies from the Appropriations Fund.
    2. The Finance Committee shall establish and maintain a detailed set of request forms and procedures for each type of funding request. (These forms and procedures are subject to the approval of the Council by a simple majority vote of those members present at a regular meeting of the Council.)
    3. For requests for monies from the Appropriations Fund, the Finance Committee shall review historical information regarding:
      a. prior allocations to departments and/or organizations that are requesting funds; and
      b. similar types of funding that were approved in prior years.
    4. The Finance Committee shall review the GSA's financial records and account balances on a monthly basis.
    5. The Finance Committee shall review, audit (verify for accuracy), and approve all financial reports and budgets submitted to the Council. Financial and budget reports should be submitted at least quarterly to the Council.
    6. The Finance Committee shall periodically review these By-Laws.
    7. The Finance Committee shall prepare the budget for the next fiscal year at the end of the current year.
    8. The Finance Committee shall have knowledge of the GSA's Constitution, Financial By-Laws, and other related procedures.
  3. The President shall have the following powers and responsibilities:
    1. The President shall keep detailed, accurate, up to date records of expenditures incurred from the Presidential Discretionary Fund.
  4. The Vice President of Campus Affairs shall have the following powers and responsibilities:
    1. The VP Campus shall keep detailed, accurate, up to date records of expenditures incurred from the VP Campus Discretionary Fund
    2. The VP Campus shall report quarterly to council regarding his/her use of the GSA Social Event Fund. This report shall include descriptions of the upcoming festival (Fall Free for All, Snow Goddess, Spring Fling) as well as updates regarding how she/he is planning to spend any additional money from the Social Event Fund.
  5. The Vice President of External Affairs shall have the following powers and responsibilities:
    1. The VP External shall keep detailed, accurate, up to date records of expenditures incurred from the VP External Discretionary Fund
    2. The VP External shall keep detailed, accurate, up to date records of expenditures incurred from the UC Travel Budget.
    3. The VP External shall report quarterly to council regarding his/her use of the allocation towards rallies and travel associated to lobbying efforts. This report shall include descriptions of how this money was used during the previous quarter and any financial projections for the upcoming quarter.
       
  6. The Vice President of Internal Affairs shall have the following powers and responsibilities:
    1. The VP Internal shall keep detailed, accurate, up to date records of expenditures incurred from the VP Internal Discretionary Fund
       
  7. The Vice President of Academic Affairs shall have the following powers and responsibilities:
    1. The VP Academic shall keep detailed, accurate, up to date records of expenditures incurred from the VP Academic Discretionary Fund

Section III: Meetings

The VP Finance shall schedule all meetings and notify committee members and persons requesting funds as to the time and location of such meetings. The regular meetings of the Finance Committee shall be scheduled every other week during each academic quarter. A committee member may, with written notification to the VP Finance, designate a proxy who must also be a GSA Council representative. A quorum shall consist of the VP Finance and at least two other members or their proxies.
 

ARTICLE IV: ALLOCATION PROCEDURES

Allocated funds shall not be expended for programs or purposes that are in violation of state or federal laws, or of the University of California’s Policies and Procedures. The following procedures shall be followed for requests for monies from the Appropriation Funds:

Section I: Submission of Funding Requests

  1. Requests shall be submitted to the VP Finance via the appropriate Internet form found on the GSA Finance Committee website. Requests may be submitted in writing at the discretion of the VP Finance.
  2. Requests for monies from the Lounge Fund or Per Capita Fund must be submitted by at least one of the department's regular representatives to the Council.
  3. Requests from SOLO registered student organizations must be submitted by at least one graduate student who is a member of the organization requesting funds.
  4. Requests from graduate departments must be submitted by at least one of the department's regular representatives to the Council.
  5. Requests from other organizations must be for events that are of interest to and/or benefit graduate students.
  6. It is the option of the requester to attend the Finance Committee meeting at which the request will be reviewed. However, failure of the requester to meet with the committee may result in a delay of consideration of the request and a subsequent delay in funding.
  7. Requests must be submitted in advance of Finance Committee meetings by a time established and advertised by the VP Finance. Council must approve requests before any funds are spent.
  8. Retroactive requests will not be considered.
  9. Requests for monies for operating expenses of SOLO registered student organizations may only be made if the organization is comprised mostly (over 50%) of graduate students.
  10. Requests from the Appropriates Fund by GSA Council, its committees, or the GSA Executive Board must follow all applicable procedures detailed in Article IV.

Section II: Criteria for Awarding Funds

  1. The Finance Committee shall endeavor to fund a diversity of groups and events, both academic and social in character, thus enriching as many Graduate Student lives as possible, and increasing visibility of and participation in the Graduate Student Association. The extent to which any funding request, particularly if excessive, limits the ability of the Graduate Student Association to achieve this mandate, may be viewed by Finance Committee as inappropriate for GSA funding. Political or ideological considerations may not be used as reasons to deny funding.
  2. Funding requests which lead to personal gain or which benefit a single individual will not be considered.
  3. All requests should primarily benefit graduate students. If graduate students are not the overwhelming majority of the beneficiaries then other sources should contribute appropriate shares of cost.
  4. If no representative from the requesting organization or department is present at the Finance Committee meeting at which the request is discussed, no adjustments can be made to the request. Instead, it will be accepted or rejected as is. Only by discussion between the Finance Committee and the requester will a request be adjusted or amended.
  5. In the evaluation of all requests by groups or for events that have received prior GSA funding, the Finance Committee will consider whether the accumulated funding history is in keeping with Item 10 above and whether the positive impact of the event or group's past activities is commensurate with the amount of previous and/or projected funding.
  6. In accordance with Rosenberger vs. The University of Virginia, graduate students who protest the political or ideological nature of an activity or event may receive an individual per capita refund of GSA monies appropriated by the Finance Committee and approved by GSAUCSD Council. Graduate students must submit a letter of complaint to the Vice President Finance who will award refunds in a timely manner. Complaints must be submitted within 90 days of the activity or event.

Section III: Lounge Funding

  1. Funding for lounge improvements will be provided in a loose rotation and departments that have received funds during the fiscal year should not reapply the next year. Consumable items and improvements to buildings (paint, electrical outlets/fixtures, carpet, and etc.) will not be funded. All permanent hardware, furniture, appliances and etcetera purchased with monies from the Lounge Fund shall remain the property of the GSA and in the event of dissolution of a graduate lounge, those items shall be returned to the GSA.
  2. Finance Committee may require documentation of the cost of all items in the lounge request.

Section IV: Acknowledgement of Funds Received

  1. Any event sponsored by the GSA must include as part of its publicity for the event, acknowledgment of sponsorship by the Graduate Student Association. This acknowledgment must be present on any advertisements used to promote the event. A copy of the acknowledgment shall be sent to the GSA Office for verification and filing. Failure to acknowledge GSA support will result in a negative notation in the records of Finance Committee and may be taken into account in the Committee’s consideration of future requests from the offending department or student organization.
  2. Failure to supply required documentation may result in denial of reimbursement at the discretion of the VP Finance. This decision may be appealed in writing to the VP Finance before the last Council meeting of the year with explanation of the lack of required documentation. The GSA Council will review the appeal at the next council meeting.

Section V: Deadlines

  1. Funding requests must be submitted by the last Finance Committee meeting of each fiscal year for all appropriations except for the Early Request Fund which is described in section VI.
  2. Requests must be submitted with sufficient time to allow review by Finance Committee and Council at their regularly scheduled meetings prior to the date of the planned event.
  3. Requests for funds from the Department Per-Capita category of the Appropriations Budget shall be due on the last day of the Winter academic quarter.
  4. Any requests for appeal hearings must be submitted to the VP Finance in writing before the last Finance Committee meeting of the year with specific reasons as to why the funding request should be reconsidered. The GSA Council will review the appeal at the next Council meeting.
  5. Financial cut-off for expenditures against approved allocations is the last day of the Spring academic quarter of each fiscal year for all appropriations. As of that date, any reimbursement receipts, requests for payment, requests to transfer expenses, or any other type of expenditure requests that are not received by the GSA Office will not be honored and the remaining allocated funds will revert to the GSA and will no longer be available to the student/organization/department.
     

Section VI: Early Request Fund

  1. The Early Request Fund shall fund events occurring after May 30th and before the first Council meeting following the first Finance Committee meeting of the next fiscal year.
  2. The Early Request Fund is a part of the budget of the subsequent fiscal year.
  3. Requests from the Early Request fund must be made after the budget for the subsequent fiscal year is approved by Council according to Article V Section I. Requests submitted during the current fiscal years must be reviewed by the Finance Committee and the Council in the usual manner.
  4. Requests from the Early Request fund submitted after the last Finance Committee meeting of the year will be reviewed by available Finance Committee members. Executive Board will serve the function of Council.
  5. Financial cut-off for expenditures against the Early Request Fund will be the third Council meeting of the year. As of that date, any reimbursement receipts, requests for payment, requests to transfer expenses, or any other type of expenditure requests that are not received by the GSA Office will not be honored and the remaining allocated funds will revert to the GSA and will no longer be available.
  6. Only GSA representatives may make requests from the Early Request fund. Other graduate students may, at the discretion of the VP Finance, make the request.

ARTICLE V: BUDGET

Section I: Proposed Budget

A proposed budget will be submitted to the Council by the Vice President of Finance at or before the second to last meeting prior to the close of each fiscal year. Following Finance Committee approval, the budget will go to Council for approval. The budget shall project revenues and expenditures for the Graduate Student Association for the coming fiscal year.

Section II: Composition

The Annual Budget shall be presented in five (5) categories. These categories are to be: 1.) Revenue; 2.) Expenditures (separated into the following): Salaries, Wages and Benefits; Office Operation; Organizational Expense; GSA Events; Special Reserves and Appropriations; 3.) Transfers to (from) the Mandatory Reserve Fund; 4.) Fund Balances, Beginning and 5.) Fund Balances, Ending.

REVENUE
This category shall reflect the projected revenue to be received by the Graduate Student Association from all sources.

EXPENDITURES
Salaries, Wages and Benefits
This category shall reflect those expenditures for officers’ compensation and staff wages and benefits.
Office Operations
This category shall reflect those expenditures normally expected in the daily operations of the Graduate Student Association. These costs may include, but are not limited to, computing expenses, mail service fees, office supplies, printing/copying, telephone costs, office equipment and other miscellaneous expenses.
Organizational Expenses
This category shall reflect expenditures directly related to the GSA organization for accounting or audit fees, officer's travel, newsletter expenses, lobbying, discretionary funding, and the annual contribution to the UCSA.

GSA EVENTS
This category shall reflect expenditures to GSA funded events throughout the year. These include, for example, GSA Happy Hours at Porter’s Pub, GSA Council Dinners, Opposites Attract, the GSA Social Events (the Fall Free for All and the Spring Fling), the Graduate Coordinators Luncheon, the GSA Executive Training Retreat, and the All Grad Student Symposium.

SPECIAL RESERVES
This category shall reflect reserves necessary for the Council to cover expenditures that do not occur on a regular basis. These items shall include provisions for balloting fees, Smith vs. Regents outlays, and Legal Assistance funds.

APPROPRIATIONS
The following expenditure categories will be allocated over the course of the year by the Council upon the recommendation of the Finance Committee:

  1. Department Per Capita: Each department may receive, on request, an amount, specified in the annual GSA budget, proportional to the number of graduate students registered in that department. A minimum level of total funding may be established with the annual budget.
  2. Lounge Improvements: Each department may request funds for creation of or improvements to graduate student lounges (c.f. item 16 in Article IV).
  3. General Request Fund: This money is for interdepartmental graduate social events as well as seminars, talks, or other cultural activities of interest to graduate students. Also, any graduate student organization registered with SOLO may request money from this fund.
  4. Early Request Fund: To fund events that occur before regular appropriations are available for request, e.g. summer events or orientation events. Monies left in this fund not claimed prior to the deadlines set forth in section VI for such requests will be reallocated to the General Request Fund.

MANDATORY RESERVE
This category shall reflect the current budgeted amount to be transferred to (from) the Mandatory Reserve account. (For further explanation of the Mandatory Reserve Fund see Article VI.)

FUND BALANCES, BEGINNING
This amount shall be the projected ending balances of the Graduate Student Association's accounts from the prior fiscal year.

FUND BALANCES, ENDING
Each year some portion of the total funds shall be left unallocated. This amount is distinct from the Mandatory Reserve in that it reflects funds, which the Graduate Student Association holds in the event of cost overruns during the fiscal year.
BILLS

  1. All financial and other legislation will be sequentially numbered. The number assigned will start with the year, the quarter, then a dash and the sequential number, e.g. 95S-1.
  2. Each bill must be signed by the President and the Vice President under whose area the legislation falls. Each bill must have recorded next to the signatures the Council meeting where it was voted upon and the vote. All financial bills must have a recorded yea and nay, tally, except Per Capita expenditures which need only to be announced at a Council meeting, provided the department has a sitting representative. The President and one Vice President shall sign the copy of Council meeting minutes that is approved by the GSA Council.
  3. No GSAUCSD money can be expended without an accompanying bill unless there is a specific expenditure item in the general budget. The only exception is emergency summer expense related to office operation. Such expenditures must be reported to the GSA Council at the first meeting of the year.
  4. If the President is unable to sign the bill, the Vice President Internal, or other Vice President authorized by the President to act in his or her absence may sign for the President. If the President is unwilling to sign the bill, it shall be so noted, and another Vice President shall sign in place of the President. If two officers cannot be found to sign the bill, it will be sent back to Council where it may be passed by majority vote and signed by any two Council members present.
  5. If a bill is passed at the last Council Meeting of the year, and two officers are unable or unwilling to sign the bill, any two Council members present at the meeting when the bill was passed may sign.
  6. The office manager shall keep a record of all bills passed and signed. Financial bills may be maintained separately from non-financial bills.

Section III: Amendments to the Budget

Once the annual budget is approved by the Council, amendments to the budget must be submitted to the Finance Committee for review. The Finance Committee will submit budget amendment recommendations to the Council with the agenda for its next regular meeting. The budget may be amended by a simple majority vote of those members present at a regular meeting of the Council.

ARTICLE VI: MANDATORY RESERVE FUND
THIS ARTICLE MAY NOT BE SUSPENDED

Section I: History

The Mandatory Reserve Fund was created during the first year (1989-90) in which graduate activity fees were collected. These monies were maintained in the GSA's Activity Fee Account and Vending Machine Account. The reserve funds were exhausted by a $20,000.00 transfer to the University Center's “Pub Renovation Project” in October of 1991. In June of 1992, a separate account was established with UCSD for the reserve monies. The reserve fund is intended to be maintained in an interest bearing account.
As of December 2003, the GSA had not been receiving earnings of the Short Term Interest Program (STIP) on the balance of either its operating budget or mandatory reserve accounts. By agreement with the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Financial Management, GSA would begin receiving STIP earnings on its fund balance upon satisfaction of the following requirements: transfer of the funds carried forward in the 2002-2003 fiscal year ($98,291.82) from the operating budget to the mandatory reserve, commitment to maintain at least $135,000 in the mandatory reserve fund at all times to guarantee that GSA STIP earnings will always be positive, and addition of a compliance with law provision.

Section II: Minimum Balance

Beginning in the 1993-94 fiscal year (July 1, 1993), the reserve funds shall not be used until the reserve balance is equal to $25,000.00. The Mandatory Reserve Fund balance is intended to be maintained at a minimum of $25,000.00 in order to protect contractual expenditures such as salaries and allow for a mail ballot to address emergency funding issues. Only those monies in excess of the minimum balance may be approved for expenditure or transfer except extraordinary expenses resulting from natural disaster, external lawsuit, loss of funding sources or similar catastrophe. GSA Financial By-Laws Page 6 of 8 Updated February 10, 2004
Beginning on January 26, 2004, the reserve funds shall be maintained at a minimum balance of $135,000 in order to guarantee that GSA STIP earnings will always be positive.

Section III: Transfers to Reserve

The Mandatory Reserve Fund shall receive one dollar per graduate student per year to be transferred into the account at the end of the first quarter of each academic year. This requirement shall be waived when the Reserve fund balance exceeds $150,000.00. The Council, upon recommendation from the Finance Committee, shall approve any further additions to the reserve by a simple majority vote of those members present at a regular GSA Council meeting.

Section IV: Transfers from Reserve

Monies in excess of the minimum balance requirement can be transferred to the GSA operating account to cover unexpected deficits or expenses, and for the purchase and replacement of capital equipment. To transfer monies from reserve for reasons not specified in Article VI, Section II, when the fund is at or below $135,000.00, requires an amendment to these By-Laws by the Council as provided in Article VII. The Council, upon recommendation from the Finance Committee, must approve any expenditure or transfer from the reserve account by a two-thirds majority vote at two consecutive Council meetings provided that all members of the Council have been sent the proposed text of the recommendation at least five working days prior to the first meeting.

Section V: Reporting

A separate financial record which shows the detail activity for the Mandatory Reserve Account will be maintained. Reports regarding the account activity will be presented to the Council by the Vice President of Finance on an as needed basis. The balance of the Mandatory Reserve account will not be included in the Fund Balances category of the budget as this account is not available for operations unless specifically approved by the Council, and in that case any portion of the Mandatory Reserve to be transferred to operations will be shown as a “Transfer From Mandatory Reserve” on the annual budget.

ARTICLE VII: PAYROLL

Section I: Executive Officers Compensation

The salaries of the executive officers of the GSA shall be determined when the proposed fiscal budget is approved according to Article V, Section I.

Section II: Staff Compensation

The GSA staff shall have the option to be compensated for attendance at GSA Council meetings by either accruing comp time or having the comp time paid as overtime. The comp time that can be paid shall not exceed the amount of time spent at GSA Council meetings. The type of compensation shall be jointly determined by the Executive Committee, the GSA staff member’s supervisor, and the GSA staff person.

Article VIII: AMENDMENTS TO THE BY-LAWS

These By-Laws shall take effect after being approved by a three-quarters majority of the entire Council. They may be amended by a two-thirds majority vote of those present at a regular meeting of the Council after the amendments have been proposed at the previous regular meeting. They may be suspended for one meeting, or a part there of (except Article VI regarding the Mandatory Reserve Fund), by a two-thirds majority of those present providing quorum requirements are met.

Amendment History
Amended: Presented November 16th, 2001 and approved on January 14th, 2002 (Article III: Finance Committee, Section I: Membership, Section III: Meetings, and Article VIII: Amendments.) Vote was 22Y-0N-1A.
Amended: Presented April 29th, 2002; discussed May 13th, 2002; and approved on May 19th, 2002 (Article III: Finance Committee, Section I: Membership, Article IV: Items 18 to 21, Article V: Budget, Section II: Composition.) Vote was 12Y-0N-2A.
GSA Financial By-Laws Page 7 of 8 Updated February 10, 2004