Associated Student Government passed three bills during their Sept. 20 meeting.
The first of these bills concerned the allocation of $760 from the ASG operating budget for a raft trip through the Outdoor Program for any interested senators. Director of External Affairs Chrystina Meador presented the information, and hoped that the trip will reduce some of the past tension between the two organizations. The bill passed unanimously.
Josh Stover, special projects coordinator for Student Life, presented the second and third bills, both regarding events for homecoming week. Though last year, ASG completely supported the homecoming events financially, Stover convinced other organizations to contribute to the activities as well.
The first of the bills for Student Life concerned the allocation of $1500 from the student-controlled reserve fund for a bungee trampoline for the homecoming carnival. The bill passed through the Fee Allocation Committee (FAC) unanimously on Monday and was passed unanimously during the ASG meeting as well.
“I think the $1500 is small price to pay considering we paid for the whole thing last year,” said Senate Leader Sam Gaasch during the senate discussion for this bill.
The second of these bills concerned prize money for the top three floats from the homecoming parade. The prize money, in total, proposed to FAC was $2500. FAC cut the total amount to $2000, divided as $1000 for first, $600 for second and $400 for third, which was the amount proposed to the ASG general assembly.
Stover was confident that larger clubs would not be favored over smaller ones, and that the number of participants at the actual parade would not be taken into account either. According to Stover, the floats would be judged on creativity, Maverick spirit and how well a particular float matches the theme.
Senator Amber DuBois was unconvinced that smaller clubs would have the funds to create as impressive of floats as the larger, more visible clubs, and wanted the amount of the prize money to be reduced. This was a position mirrored by FAC representative Alec Williams, who voted “no” on the initial bill.
Senator Jay Shearrow felt that the judging criteria corrected for the discrepancy in club size and that FAC had already vetted the bill in an appropriate manner, a point which Kevin Kahuena concurred.
“Are you here to protect the funds, or are you here to support Mavs?” Senator Shelby Cerise asked the senators, urging them to pass the bill as presented. The bill passed as presented.
ASG President Ben Linzey referenced an executive order he had emailed to senators concerning the ASG Transparency Act. The order contained specific provisions designed to increase accessibility for students.
Under this order, the executive branch will be required to hold two town hall meetings each semester. Press conferences will now be held bi-weekly instead of weekly, and all general assembly meetings will be recorded so that the community can access them.
The final provision of this order stated that any appointees will stay in the room during the discussion regarding their appointment.
During public input, former Colorado Mesa University student Lehua La’a thanked relevant senators for coming to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals demonstration last Saturday but also encouraged them to stand by their word.
La’a brought some of the postcards from the demonstration and challenged the senators who are registered voters to fill them out and send them to Representative Scott Tipton.
“Now it’s time for action,” La’a said. “You guys mentioned that the decree [resolution] was just a start to something, just a first step. […] Make the moves that you guys say you’re going to.”
Linzey also encouraged senators to fill out the postcards. During Senate discussion, Senator Shearrow said he would fill out a postcard, and hoped other senators would as well.
“We can’t control what happened, but we can change what happens from here,” said Shearrow in reference to ASG attendance at the DACA demonstration.
Senator Cerise will be in charge of the committee in support of DACA students.
