On Jan. 30, the ASUW senate saw the introduction of four new pieces of legislation: covering issues like processing, the RSO finance policy, the ASUW Strategic Plan and new senator requirements.
No new requests for funding came to the RSO Funding Board, but Senator Alex Mulhall, from the College of Arts and Sciences and Chair of the RSO Funding Board, gave an update on the Jazz Advocates of Wyoming funding request from last week. Mulhall said that the Funding Board had decided to suspend them over their violation of the finance policy.
The first new bill introduced was Senate Bill #2591 Discontinuation of Processing. Processing is part of the ASUW senate meetings where anyone given the floor could talk on any subject they want, from opinions on that day’s meeting to making plans to meet up after the senate meeting.
According to SB 2591, “It would be much more appropriate and professional to state comments made under Processing during an appropriate time in the agenda or in another capacity such as personal conversations or emails.”
SB 2592 Approval of the ASUW Strategic Plan Moving Forward 2018-2022 was the second piece of legislation introduced.
According to SB 2592, the goal of the new strategic plan is to identify concerns, improve on them and create possible plans for the next ASUW Administration.
The third bill introduced was SB 2593 Revision of Article III of the ASUW Finance Policy and Amendment to RSO Suspension Decisions. If this bill were to pass, it would see a reorganization of the finance policy document, create a guideline for punishment for violations of the finance policy and put all RSOs who were either suspended or found to have infractions on probation instead.
SB 2593 gave several reasons as to why these changes needed to be made. According to SB 2593, it is because patchwork amendments have created a confusing document, that ASUW theoretically should apply the suspension clause to all RSOs regardless of the infraction and the ASUW Student Government needs to take responsibility for its lack of clarity.
The final bill introduced was SB 2594 Changes to Senator Candidate Requirements, which would allow for first year students who have served on Freshman Senate for a semester to be eligible to serve on the ASUW Senate if a vacancy were to open.
According to SB 2594, with the continuing difficulties of filling senate vacancies, freshman senators would be a good source of new senators. After a semester of freshman senate they have a good working knowledge of the legislative process and this would be a good incentive for first year students to take part in the freshman senate.
