The Associated Students Legislative Council endorsed a new draft of its constitution last night to present at the upcoming A.S. Constitutional Convention.

A major point of contention in the draft constitution was the selection process for the Office of Student Advocate (OSA) General. In addition, Leggies altered two other processes in the new draft.

Current OSA Advocate General Neil Dipaola said the advocate general should be an elected position.

“When the office operates as it’s supposed to, it should not be connected to politics,” Dipaola said.

However, Off-Campus Rep. Joel Rodriguez-Flores said he preferred an appointment process.

“I think [the position] will be politicized a lot more if elected,” Rodriguez-Flores said.

Rep-at-Large Romy Lea Frazier said an interview process would ultimately provide a more complete method of selection than an election.

According to the A.S. Legal Code, “The Student Advocate shall be the person to discuss any and all student concerns and issues, where the student is the plaintiff against the University.”

The council approved the motion to strike the advocate general elections provision from the draft constitution with 15 in favor, one against and three abstentions.

Though the article was removed from the draft constitution, University-Owned Housing Rep. Felix Hu said a bill to put similar provisions into the A.S. bylaws is in the works. Provisions in the bylaws can be changed by a two-thirds Leg Council vote, whereas constitutional revisions require approval by the general student body.

Later, the council unanimously approved two other changes to the draft constitution. The first requires a special election when a vacancy occurs in an executive officer position.

Currently, when an executive space becomes vacant, a replacement is appointed. As a recent example, Leg Council swore Bill Shiebler into office as its new external vice president of statewide affairs on Feb. 15 after Felicia Cruz resigned from the position the prior weekend.

The second change Leggies made requires that candidates receive at least 6 percent of their constituency’s vote to receive runner-up status in the A.S. Spring Elections. Currently, candidates must receive 10 percent to qualify.

After passing these changes, the council approved of the draft by unanimous consent.

The constitutional convention takes place March 7 in Corwin Pavilion at 6 p.m.