The board of trustees shall consist of three members from Mobile County, five members from the state at large, two members from the United States at large, the Governor, who shall be ex officio president of the board, and one each from each of the following state senatorial districts, or combinations thereof, as those districts existed in 1963: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Districts comprising Monroe and Wilcox Counties and Butler, Conecuh, and Covington Counties, respectively; Nineteenth and Twentieth Districts comprising Choctaw, Clarke, and Washington Counties and Marengo and Sumter Counties, respectively; Twenty-first District comprising Baldwin and Escambia Counties; Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth, and Thirtieth Districts comprising Dale and Geneva Counties, Coffee and Crenshaw Counties, and Dallas and Lowndes Counties, respectively; and the Thirty-fifth District comprising Henry and Houston Counties. The trustees shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the State Senate, and all appointees appointed on and after June 1, 2014, shall hold office for a term of six years, and until their successors shall be appointed and qualified. Any trustee appointed to serve a 12-year term before June 1, 2014, shall continue to serve for the remainder of that term. As terms expire after that date, appointments to fill positions on the board shall be for six-year terms. The board shall be divided into three classes, as nearly equal as may be, so that one third may be chosen as provided in Section 16-55-5. Vacancies occurring in the office of trustee from death or resignation, and the vacancies regularly occurring by expiration of the term shall be filled by the Governor, and the appointee shall hold office until the next meeting of the Legislature. Successors to those trustees whose terms expire during an interim shall hold office for the full term unless they are rejected by the Senate. No trustee shall receive any pay or emolument other than his or her actual expenses incurred in the discharge of his or her duties as a trustee.
Ala. Code § 16-55-2 (1975)