§ 42-45-2. Creation of commission - Members. (a) There is hereby created within the executive department an historical preservation and heritage commission consisting of fifteen (15) members as follows:

(1) Ten (10) shall represent the public and shall be appointed by the governor as herein provided. Of the ten (10) public members, at least one shall possess the background and qualifications of an historian, one an archaeologist, one an architect, or an architectural historian, one a museologist, one an anthropologist, one a landscape historian or landscape architect, and one a representative of a private nonprofit historic preservation organization.

(2) Five (5) members shall consist of: the director of the Rhode Island economic development corporation; the director of the department of environmental management; the associate director of administration for planning; the state building commissioner, and the state historic preservation officer, each of whom shall serve as nonvoting ex-officio members.

(3) The governor shall appoint the public members of the commission as follows: two (2) members to serve until the first day of June, 1970, three (3) members to serve until the first day of June, 1971, and four (4) members to serve until the first day of June, 1972, and all members shall serve until their successors are appointed and qualified.

(4) In the month of May, 1970, and in the month of May in each year thereafter, the governor shall appoint successors to the public members of the commission whose terms shall expire in that year, to hold office commencing on the first day of June in the year of appointment and until the first day of June in the third year after their respective appointments or until their respective successors are appointed and qualified.

(5) Any vacancy of a public member which may occur in the commission shall be filled by appointment by the governor for the remainder of the unexpired term. All gubernatorial appointments made pursuant to this subsection after the effective date of this act [July 15, 2005] shall be subject to the advice and consent of the senate. No person shall be eligible for appointment to the commission unless he or she is a resident of the state. Each ex-officio member of the commission may designate a subordinate within his or her department or agency to represent him or her at all meetings of the commission. Members of the commission shall be eligible to succeed themselves.

(b) Members of the commission shall be removable by the governor pursuant to § 36-1-7 and for cause only, and any removal solely for partisan or personal reasons unrelated to capacity or fitness for the office shall be unlawful.

History of Section. (P.L. 1968, ch. 290, § 1; P.L. 1970, ch. 299, § 1; P.L. 1974, ch. 162, § 1; P.L. 1976, ch. 118, § 1; P.L. 1985, ch. 181, art. 42, § 1; P.L. 1988, ch. 293, § 1; P.L. 1990, ch. 309, § 4; P.L. 1994, ch. 70, art. 29, § 3; P.L. 2005, ch. 228, § 3; P.L. 2005, ch. 315, § 3; P.L. 2007, ch. 340, § 36.)