Former-ASUW president Ben Wetzel vetoed three bills at the end of the 105th ASUW administration; the 106th ASUW administration met again to consider these vetoes.
Senate Bill No. 2618, allowed Associated Students Technical Services to offer services to non-student groups at a price, increasing the scope of their operations. According to the veto notice, Wetzel said that ASTEC needed to stabilize and become more efficient after going through several changes as per SB 2546, before it can increase its scope. This bill passed the senate unanimously despite the April 20 veto from Wetzel.
Senator Dustin Strock of the college of education made the motion to overturn the veto.
“I was on the ASTEC ad-hoc committee that wrote Senate Bill 2546 and I don’t see these bills as incompatible at all,” Strock said. “In fact, I welcome the changes this [SB 2618] brings.”
Senator Jalynn Van Baalen of the college of engineering said it would look unprofessional to overturn the action of a previous administration. President Seth Jones would not have the opportunity to veto the bill, and writing a new bill for the fall semester was a better option.
The coordinator of ASTEC, Andrew Hayes, spoke in favor of overturning the veto.
“[SB 2526] was not intended to be a long-term solution, rather it was there to become a fallback,” Hayes said. “So that as the financial woes that the university was going through, would be more easily navigated by ASTEC. It would also give us an opportunity to rebuild what ASTEC’s focus was.”
Senator Maurie Mueller of the college of arts and sciences said that overturning this veto was necessary, as it would affect ASTEC’s abilities over the summer. She said it was the duty of the senate to determine when it was time to change ASTEC, not that of the president.
“The consideration of us overturning a veto from a past administration, I also think you have to consider that this was essentially a pocket veto,” Senator Lucas Regnell, from the College of Health Sciences, said. “That is almost as sketchy as us overturning it.”
Senator Derrick Conard of the college of arts and sciences spoke in opposition to overturning the veto. He said that the reduction of ASTEC’s scope was only a year ago, and they have to take more time and consideration. He said that new legislation should be written during the fall because certain wording needed to be changed.
As the motion to overturn the veto for SB 2618 came to a vote, it required a two-thirds majority to pass. The final vote was 18-8-1, which successfully overturned the veto. The two other bills that were vetoed on April 20, SB 2623 and 2628, were considered and neither were able to garner enough votes to overturn the veto.
