(a) The Secretary of State shall develop and maintain a registry of distinguished women and minorities who are available to serve on corporate boards of directors. As used in this section, âminorityâ means an ethnic person of color including American Indians, Asians (including, but not limited to, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Pacific Islanders, Samoans, and Southeast Asians), Blacks, Filipinos, and Hispanics. (b) For each woman or minority who participates in the registry, the Secretary of State shall maintain information on his or her educational, professional, community service, and corporate governance background. That information may include, but is not limited to: (1) Paid or volunteer employment. (2) Service in elected public office or on public boards or commissions. (3) Directorships, officerships, and trusteeships of business and nonprofit entities, including committee experience. (4) Professional, academic, or community awards or honors. (5) Publications. (6) Government relations experience. (7) Experience with corporate constituents. (8) Any other areas of special expertise. (c) In addition to the information subdivision (b) requires, each woman or minority who participates in the registry may disclose any number of personal attributes that may contribute to board diversity. Those attributes may include, but are not limited to, gender, physical disability, race, or ethnic origin. (d) In addition to the information subdivision (b) requires, each woman or minority who participates in the registry may indicate characteristics of corporations for which he or she would consider, or is especially interested in, serving as a director. These characteristics may include, but are not limited to, company size, industry, geographic location, board meeting frequency, director time commitments, director compensation, director insurance or indemnification, or social policy concerns. (e) Any woman or minority may nominate himself or herself to the registry by filing with the Secretary of State the information required by subdivision (b) on a form the secretary prescribes. Any registrant may attach a copy of his or her resume and up to two letters of recommendation to his or her registration form. Each registrantâs registration form, together with any attached resume or letters of recommendation, shall constitute his or her registry transcript. (f) The Secretary of State shall make appropriate rules requiring registrants to renew or update their filings with the registry, as necessary to ensure continued accuracy of registry information. (g) The Secretary of State shall assign each registrant a file number, then enter the information described in subdivisions (b), (c), and (d) into a data base, using the registrantâs file number to identify him or her. The registry data base shall not disclose any registrantâs name or street address, but may list the city, county, or ZIP Code of his or her business or residence address. The secretary shall make data base information available to those persons described in subdivisions (i) and (j). The secretary may provide that access either by permitting direct data base searches or by performing data base searches on written request. (h) The Secretary of State may also make information contained in the registry data base available to any person or entity qualified to transact business in California that regularly engages in the business of providing data base access or search services; provided, that data base access will not be construed to entitle the user to access to any registrantâs transcript. (i) The Secretary of State shall make information contained in a reasonable number of registrantsâ transcripts available to any corporation or its representative. A ârepresentative,â for purposes of this subdivision, may be an attorney, an accountant, or a retained executive recruiter. A âretained executive recruiter,â for purposes of this subdivision, is an individual or business
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