ASUCD Senate meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at 6:10 p.m. Times listed are according to the clock at the March 8, 2012 meeting location, the Memorial Union’s Mee Room. The ASUCD president is not required to attend senate meetings.
Meeting called to order at 6:10 p.m.
Adam Thongsavat, ASUCD president, present, left early
Bree Rombi, ASUCD vice president, present
Beatriz Anguiano, ASUCD senator, present
Bradley Bottoms, ASUCD senator, present
Jared Crisologo-Smith, ASUCD senator, present
Don Gilbert, ASUCD senator, present
Justin Goss, ASUCD senator, present
Joyce Han, ASUCD senator, present, left early, returned at 8:39 p.m.
Kabir Kapur, ASUCD senator, present
Anni Kimball, ASUCD senator, present, left early, returned at 8:39 p.m.
Paul Min, ASUCD senator, present
Erica Padgett, ASUCD senator, present
Patrick Sheehan, ASUCD senator, pro tempore, present
Yara Zokaie, ASUCD senator, arrived late at 9:02 p.m.
Confirmations
Kevin Pelstring was sworn in as Chief Justice.
Unit Director Reports
Anthony Palmere, the Unitrans assistant general manager said that Winter has been the highest ridership quarter for Unitrans and that ridership is up 2.5 percent over last year. The new service to West Village is doing well, with up to 900 riders a day. Andy Wyly, the maintenance assistant general manager, said that they are re-powering buses with compressed natural gas engines. He also said they are talking about buying used double-decker buses. Finally, he said that the old bus that they sent back to London landed last week, and will be put in a museum soon.
Tessa Artale, director of the Campus Center for the Environment (CCE), said that the resident garden in Segundo is doing well. She said that CCE has been talking about the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference, which is coming to UC Davis in June. She said that CCE is looking to establish a sustainability major, with an overarching goal of creating a sustainability GE requirement. Artale also said that CCE will be taking over the bookstore bag ban from former ASUCD Senator Darwin Moosavi.
Alisa Kim, director of Project Compost, said that their new vehicle is doing well. She said that they talking about a new place to keep the electric vehicle, so it can be plugged in and locked up. Kim said that Project Compost is getting involved with Farm to College Night in the dining commons. She also said that Project Compost is looking for new ways to bring in money to the unit, in order to offset the new budget cuts to ASUCD.
Consideration of Old Legislation
Senate bill 78, authored by Martin, introduced by Sheehan, to reform the procedures for quarterly reports, passed unanimously.
Senate bill 74, authored by Martin, co-authored by Cano, Goss, Meyerhoff and Rombi, introduced by Martin, to create the Committee on Committees, a permanent committee of the ASUCD Senate, passed unanimously.
Senate bill 46, authored by Renslo, co-authored by Abergel and Cano, introduced by Zokaie, to amend the Long Range Plan for the Experimental College, passed unanimously.
Senate bill 64, authored by Burke, co-authored by Ho, Kimball and Sheehan, introduced by Sheehan, to allocate $1,470 from Senate Reserves to provide transportation to a conference, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for Girls, at UC Davis. Brian Barnett discussed spending rules for the Senate Reserves. Bottoms said he wasn’t sure if student fees should be spent on kids who do not attend UC Davis. Sheehan explained why the bill should be passed. Bottoms said that he changed his mind. The bill passed unanimously.
Senate bill 69, authored by Goss, to restructure the unit adoption process. Crisologo-Smith said he was concerned about unit directors picking their own senators for adopted units. It passed 7-1-4. Crisologo-Smith voted no.
Senate Bill 76, authored by Cano, introduced by Goss, to outline confirmation procedures, passed unanimously.
Senate bill 77, authored by Cano, introduced by Repicky, to outline veto procedures, passed unanimously.
Discussion of Legislation previously passed
Senate bill 66, to update the Election Codes to properly reflect current technology and update the clauses concerning the Voluntary Spending Agreement, was vetoed by Thongsavat. Thongsavat said he was concerned about many issues of the bill. Thongsavat was concerned about the definition of evidence in the bill, whether or not the Elections Committee is able to decide what is acceptable for campaign photos. Thongsavat suggested Student Judicial Affairs as a body that could help regulate elections and campaign practices. Goss and Repicky said they did not feel that the bill made anything worse than it already is. Barnett said that he thinks that something being appropriate or inappropriate is very subjective. The veto was overridden in an 8-2-1 vote.
Public Announcements
Anguiano said that on Tuesday the Student Recruitment and Retention Center will be putting on The Lounge for people to come study and learn about Graduate School admissions. There will be free scantrons and blue books.
Closed Session
Meeting adjourned at 11:44 p.m.
Open positions within ASUCD can be found at vacancy.ucdavis.edu. HANNAH STRUMWASSER compiles the senate briefs. She can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
