CENTRAL COUNTY, Pa. (WJAC) — Will the current legal turmoil surrounding Penn State’s Board of Trustees, combined with the university receiving millions of dollars in state funding, trigger new proposals for oversight of trustees by state lawmakers?

Penn State’s trustees recently amended long-standing bylaws on trustee elections, and the board now has the first say on which candidates they believe are qualified for election.

Last week we learned of a proposed selection matrix to evaluate trustee candidates.

It comes as two current trustees, who may not pass the selection process, recently won court decisions against Penn State.

In Center County, a judge sided with trustee Barry Fenchak and blocked a possible vote to expel him from the board of directors.

Fenchak’s lawsuit against board leaders is still pending, alleging that they refused to provide him with requested university financial information.

In Lackawanna County Court, a lawsuit against trustee leadership revealed that Trustee Anthony Lubrano was the subject of an investigation after the February trustees meeting when he spoke about a proposed renaming of Beaver Stadium.

“The only thing our proposal really involves are two components. The first would be Sue and Joe Paterno Day in the fall at Beaver Stadium, at which time we would introduce Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium,” Lubrano previously explained.

Court testimony from a September hearing in Lackawanna County Court showed that Lubrano was not told until months later that he was the subject of an internal administrator investigation after anonymous complaints were made from other administrators about the February meeting. .

Lubrano sued, and a judge ruled that Lubrano’s testimony was credible and also ordered that Penn State could not stop the investigation until the university advanced money to pay Lubrano’s legal fees.

In recent years, state lawmakers have attempted to legislate issues related to trustees, but don’t expect that to happen now.

“We don’t dictate everything they do. People think because we give them some money, but there are many organizations that receive some money from us. But we don’t dictate anything to them, that’s what their board of directors is for,” says Rep. Kerry Benninghoff.

Penn State’s full board of trustees will meet next week.