(a) The Board of Directors of the Travel Consumer Restitution Corporation shall be composed of six directors, as follows:
(1) One public consumer representative member appointed by the Director of Consumer Affairs.
(2) One employee of the Department of Justice, assigned by the office of the Attorney General, who shall serve as an ex officio, nonvoting member.
(3) Four directors who are participants in the Travel Consumer Restitution Fund.
(b) The director appointed pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall serve until the appointment is revoked or another appointment is made, or until the director resigns.
(c) Participant directors shall be elected by a balloting of all participants in the Travel Consumer Restitution Fund in an election to be conducted by the Travel Consumer Restitution Corporation in February of each year. Participant directors shall be elected to serve two-year terms, with two of the four participant directors being elected each year to staggered two-year terms.
(d) A person is eligible to be nominated and to serve as a participant director if the person satisfies all of the following conditions:
(1) The person’s primary occupation, at the time of nomination and continuously during the previous three years, has been as the owner or manager of a seller of travel that is and has been in good standing both as a registered seller of travel and as a participant in the Travel Consumer Restitution Fund.
(2) The person has not been convicted of a crime, including a plea or verdict of guilty or a conviction following a plea of nolo contendere.
(3) The person is not subject to a judgment or administrative order, whether entered after adjudication or stipulation, predicated on that person’s commission of an act of dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or violation of this chapter or Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 17200) of Part 2 of Division 7.
(4) The person is not a defendant in a pending criminal or civil law enforcement action brought by a public prosecutor.
(5) The person has not served as a participant director of the Travel Consumer Restitution Fund at any time during the previous 18 months.
(6) Within five days after the end of the nomination period, the person nominated to be a director submits an application to the Travel Consumer Restitution Fund, signed under penalty of perjury, that attests to the person’s satisfaction of all of the conditions specified in paragraphs (1) to (5), inclusive.
(e) The Travel Consumer Restitution Fund may not impose requirements for nomination to be a participant director in addition to the requirements described in subdivision (d).
(f) If a nominee does not satisfy the requirements of subdivision (d), the Travel Consumer Restitution Fund shall notify the nominee and the Attorney General in writing, within 30 days of the nominee’s application, that the person has been rejected as a nominee and the specific grounds for the rejection.
(g) The nomination period shall be open for the period beginning 90 days and ending 30 days before the election. Any participant may nominate for election any participant who is eligible to serve as provided in subdivision (d).
(h) The Travel Consumer Restitution Fund shall enable nominees to submit, within 21 days before the election, written statements of up to 500 words in a reasonable format concerning their candidacy and shall mail those statements to participants in the Travel Consumer Restitution Fund and make those statements publicly available no later than 14 days before the election by means that may include disseminating the information on an Internet Web site or providing the information by electronic mail to any person who has requested the information and provided a valid electronic mail address.
(i) A director who does not qualify to be a participant or who otherwise becomes unable to serve shall not continue to serve as director. The board of the Travel Consumer Restitution Corporation shall adopt rules setting forth the procedures to determine that a director is no longer able to serve as a director and for the board to elect a successor to serve as director until the next election.
(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 196, Sec. 10. Effective January 1, 2004.)