As the semester winds down, the 97th session of Student Government has passed its midpoint. A total of 63 bills have been filed in Student Senate as of Monday. To streamline accessibility, Technician has compiled the status of legislation currently being discussed, amended and debated, not including bills that have been postponed or tabled indefinitely.
Finance Bill 52 – Mini Grant Reform Act
- Vetoed by Student Body President Jackie Gonzalez
The bill, written by Sen. Sean Harrington, a fourth-year studying political science, would expand the social justice mini grant to include humanitarian and philanthropic issues that do not directly fall under the current guidelines.
“The Finance Committee believed it was time to expand upon the mini grant, and increase what it could go toward,” Harrington said in an interview with Technician. “We were going to move money from the general fund finance line, and use that toward basically doubling what we had in the finance line for the mini grant.”
In her veto message on Nov. 13, Gonzalez says that the clauses in the bill are contradictory, and that broadening the scope of the social justice mini grant will “diminish activism efforts and opportunities for groups to pursue social justice initiatives.”
“Having a separate and specific allocation serves not to exclude others from finding sources of monetary support for their initiatives, but to ignite and support a fire for social justice change that we so clearly need in our world and in our immediate community,” Gonzalez said in the statement.
Within minutes of the veto announcement, Harrington emailed all members of Student Senate, informing them that he intends to make an override veto motion at the next Senate meeting, which will be held on Nov. 29.
Harrington says he was shocked to receive the veto notification.
“It passed unanimously through finance, with all the sponsors being a majority of the Finance Committee,” Harrington said.
A veto override requires a two-thirds majority of senators in attendance.
Senate Resolution 63 – Williams Expulsion Act
- Assigned to the Committee on Government Relations and Oversight
The resolution, written by Sen. Ryan Dunn, a second-year studying political science, removes Sen. Jacob Williams, a second-year studying sustainable materials and technology and representing the College of Natural Resources, from the Senate for excessive absences.
Williams has not attended a full Senate or committee meeting since April 26, and according to the Dunn, hasn’t responded to multiple attempts of communication via email, text messages and Facebook Messenger.
“This is the only way statutes provides to remove him from office if he doesn’t resign,” Dunn said. “It’s very rare to have to literally expel a member of the Senate so deciding to do this didn’t come lightly, it’s just kind of our last option since there is no communication.”
Adoption of the resolution requires a three-fourths majority by the Senate.
Resolution 58 – Susan Nutter Act
- Assigned to the Committee on Student Relations
The resolution, written by Sen. Sam Chan, a second-year studying political science and business administration, commends Susan Nutter, former vice provost and director of libraries, who recently retired.
The bill notes the accomplishments of Nutter and NCSU Libraries during her career at NC State, including the 2016 Medal for Museum and Library Science, the nation’s highest honor for extraordinary public service.
