USCCR Votes to Remove Minority Representation Requirement for State Advisory Committees
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 7/25/2005
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) voted June 17 to delete regulatory requirements that its State Advisory Committees (SACs) "be reflective of the different ethnic, racial, and religious communities within each State and the membership shall also be representative with respect to sex, political affiliation, age, and disability status."The transcript of the discussion at the June 17 meeting suggests that many of the Commissioners were concerned that the USCCR policies were too similar to illegal quotas.
The USCCR is charged with investigating claims that citizens have been discriminated against on the basis of "their race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or by reason of fraudulent practices."
While the USCCR is supposed to be a non-partisan body consisting of eight members, currently there are four Republicans, one independent (a former Republican), and one Democrat.
There are 51 SACs - one for each state and the District of Columbia. The SACs are made up of non-partisan volunteers, who are responsible for identifying and reporting to the USCCR civil rights issues of significance to their state.
The charters for nearly two-thirds of the SACs have expired. Civil rights advocates fear that the USCCR will not go ahead with re-chartering until its amended policies for selection of news members is finalized.
Some members of the Commission have expressed the concern that in its haste to clarify the language, the Commission may inadvertently hurt the very people that the USCCR was created to help.
Commissioner Michael Yaki, one of the commissioners most concerned with the ramifications of changing the policy, said, "I think that diversity is a very important goal, and I think that the composition of the SACs to reflect that diversity should be a very important goal...to completely eliminate an reflection requirement or goal is - I think would stray from what it is we're supposed to represent."
The motion to amend the language passed with the caveat that the Staff Director and Commissioner Yaki consult on the matter first.
