On Oct. 24, 2023 the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming (ASUW) held their weekly Senate meeting, during which they discussed a student organization board funding request (SOFB) from the Associated Students Interested in China (ASIC), and only discussed Senate Bill #2907, which was introduced last week and a set of newly introduced senate bills along with a senate resolution.
Only 15 members of the senate were present, which was just below the threshold of quorum required to hold a senate meeting. A long-form discussion was brought on about whether the senate would discuss new and old business, or postpone their old business to the first week of November.
Most senators pushed to continue the meeting as normal, so as to better accomplish their duties, rather than accommodating most of the senators that were not present who had instead chosen to attend personal events instead.
Senators Begani and Saint were instead attending a Turning Point USA event hosting Riley Gaines.
It was decided that proceedings would continue, and the senate lightly discussed and approved the SOFB request from the ASIC for their “Chinese New Year Celebration” which is set for Feb. 17, 2024 between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
The senate also voted to pass SB #2907, which would limit the amount of nominations allowed in events where they are appropriate to one, rather than two; another long-form discussion followed, with several senators raising points for why they supported, or disagreed with the bill, with it eventually passing with a 8-5-2 vote.
Following this a vote for a five minute recess was taken upon which, after passing Sen. Hennigar remarked that the reason for the vote being raised was because “everyone looks like they either want to die or want to kill someone.”
During the recess a side conversation between Senators McGuire and Keasling and President Smith occurred, where McGuire expressed his concerns with the behavior of other members of the senate and the nature of the way SB #2907 was introduced by its author.
As the recess came to a close McGuire addressed the rest of the senate body directly, saying, “We had people in this chamber laughing, quite literally laughing on the floor over the concerns of other senators. How’s that for decorum and how’s that for respect? The arrogant, conceited nature of those who were in favor of this legislation is unacceptable, it’s deplorable and the fact that there was conversation, in fact open advertising that nothing was codified in this legislation. Because it was known that a two-thirds majority wouldn’t be feasible. That they specifically use a loophole so that we’d only have to have a simple majority. It’s disgusting. And I will not stand for it. And I will be providing my resignation by the end of the week.”
McGuire then exited the senate chambers, and a 10 minute recess was then called. Following this was a marked decrease in the energy and amount of discussion between senators, while continuing to vote on proposed bills and Senate Resolution #2912.
The remaining senators voted to pass SB #2908 on a 11-1-2 vote, SB #2909 also on a 11-1-2 vote, SB #2910 failed and “died” in committee, SB #2911 passed on a 12-1-1 vote with an added amendment that would also require special committees to follow the same rules of ad-hoc committees regarding the retention and supplying of reports.
