The Undergraduate Student Congress discussed five bills and welcomed new members in its Tuesday night meeting.
Among the three bills discussed in the “committee of the whole”— similar to a committee meeting within the body — two received a “do pass” to be discussed by the general body along with two other bills.
Congress appointed new associates and representatives through the “Spring Appointment Act of 2021” bill, which passed by a roll call vote of 31-0-0.
Congress saw the “Chief of Staff Appointment Adjustment Act of 2021,” a bill which would alter the process of appointing the SGA chief of staff, since “chiefs of staff are traditionally known by the President and Vice President elect before their swearing in,” according to the congress agenda.
According to Congressional Administration Committee Chairman Foster Hillis, it has been tradition that the president and vice president already know who their chief of staff will be when they are running in elections. He said making the president and vice president to appoint the chief of staff through a high office position asks “a lot” and puts them “behind” on their presidential and vice presidential plans. The new process would appoint the chief of staff immediately.
The bill passed with a final roll call vote of 35-0-0.
Congress also saw the “UPol and COSCO Chair Appointment Act,” a bill appointing committee chairs Graeson Lynskey and Allegra Shaffer for the University Policy and Campus Outreach Safety and Concerns Committees, respectively. The bill passed with a final roll call vote of 35-0-0.
“An Act Appointing the Spring 2021 SGA Election Commissioner Bill,” written by SGA President Tavana Farzaneh, was the first bill seen in “committee of the whole.” The bill would appoint the Spring 2021 election commissioner following the resignation of the 2020-21 election commissioner.
Farzaneh said she and Vice President Alex Gray appointed Associate Joy Nath as the election commissioner.
“We reviewed the applications and decided to appoint Joy Nath due to his experience within the Election Commission and his experience within the Congressional Administration Committee," Farzaneh said. “He has a legislative knowledge as well that is especially useful in elections and he has really great ideas."
Farzaneh said they decided to forego interviews because Nath’s application was “clear,” and he was the most qualified candidate.
Congress members questioned Farzaneh about Nath’s application process and asked if future positions in SGA would be filled only by taking the experience of each candidate into consideration.
“Experience for this particular position is important, and it depends on what the position is,” Farzaneh said. “So, within this position, we found experience to be the most important factor.”
External Affairs Committee Chair Taylor Broadbent asked Farzaneh why the bill wasn’t seen by the Congressional Administration committee before entering the body.
She questioned Farzaneh if the bill could not be sent back to the congressional administration committee for a more “thorough review” of the application as she was “not able to disclose all of the application material."
Chair Crispin South, one of the co-authors of the bill, said there was an urgency to see the bill.
“This did not go to the Congressional Administration Committee just because of timing,” South said. “President Farzaneh and Vice President Gray wanted this to be seen as soon as possible so, as chair of congress, I put it on our agenda for committee as a whole since it needs to be seen by a committee before (it) reaches the general body during items to be considered.”
After raising several discussions within the body, the bill received a recommendation of “do fail," dismissing the bill.
Congress ended the meeting by seeing the “Auxiliary Allocation 10 Act of 2020-2021” bill, which granted SGA funds to student organizations including Crimson Spirit and Minority Women’s Conference.
