Student Senate met Wednesday, Sept. 21 and passed four pieces of legislation, including the fall 2022 appropriations, which allocated a total of $168,300 to 216 student organizations.
Harrison Andrews, a fourth-year studying communication and political science and student body treasurer, said in this appropriations cycle, SG received a record number of applications from organizations and is allocating the most funding ever in a single cycle.
Andrews presented an overview of the fall 2022 appropriations process in which 239 organizations requested approximately $315,500.
“This sets a lot of records for us,” Andrews said. “Over the past couple years, at least since COVID, we’ve seen an increase in organizations applying for appropriations.”
Maria Echeverry Montano, a third-year studying criminology and chair of the Board of Elections, gave a report on the fall election. Echeverry Montano said 14 students are running for 10 first-year Senate seats, and one student is running for a seat in the Graduate and Lifelong Education Delegation, which has four available seats. First-year students and graduate students will have the opportunity to vote Sept. 26-27 on the Get Involved website or in-person.
“The [Board of Elections] does set up polling stations in which students who maybe don’t know about it but want to vote can come up and vote, as well as anybody who is having any technical errors,” Echeverry Montano said. “We’ll have paper ballots for them.”
Legislation Passed
SB 30 – Streamlining Resignations Act – Passed
The Streamlining Resignations Act amends the Student Body Statutes to change the resignation process for Student Government officials. Sen. Jackson Lods, a fourth-year studying chemical engineering and mathematics, explained the bill.
“Basically, the way that the resignation process works right now is any student government official submits their resignation in writing, and it is effective immediately,” Lods said. “Then, there is a process where you have to go and actually accept the resignation. If that official was a senator, we have to vote to accept that resignation in Senate, even though the result of that vote has no bearing on the resignation. In an effort to streamline Senate meetings in particular, this bill seeks to remove that [process], since the resignation is accepted whether or not we accept it.”
The act passed with 38 affirmative votes and zero negative votes.
SR 31 – The 102nd Session Decorum Act – Passed
This act establishes behavior and etiquette rules for the Senate. According to Sen. Anneliese McInnis, a fourth-year studying political science and science, technology and society, a decorum act is passed every session to uphold professionalism in the Senate. SR 31 passed with 36 affirmative votes and one negative vote.
AB 32 – Appropriations Bill 32 – Passed
Appropriations Bill 32 allocates $168,300 to 216 student organizations for the fall 2022 appropriations cycle. AB 32 passed with 30 affirmative votes and three negative votes.
GB 38 – Student Government Funds Spending Guidelines Act of 2022 – Passed
GB 38 creates spending guidelines and restrictions for SG funds. It prohibits disbursing SG funds for alcoholic beverages, tobacco, e-cigarettes, illegal substances, and weapons and weapon paraphernalia. The act passed with 36 affirmative votes and zero negative votes.
Student Senate meetings are open to the public, and the next meeting will be held Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Talley 4140.
