Senator Ryan Wonders was absent from the Senate meeting held on Oct. 3. Bradley Bottoms, ASUCD Vice President, presided over the meeting.
The highlight of the meeting was the passing of a bill that gave Lobby Corps the money needed to start their work. Lobby Corps is a group of politically ambitious students that lobbies the University officials and the California State Government in Sacramento to promote student views on issues affecting students. The director of Lobby Corps, David Kuwabara, spoke at the meeting, urging the Senate to pass the bill. The bill was discussed in detail as there were concerns since the Business and Finance Commission had not reviewed the contract. The bill was named urgent and passed, giving Lobby Corps the funds it needs to start its work for the year.
Olivia Brown was sworn in as the new Senator, replacing Alyson Sagala. Three new members, Helena Wong, Amy Leong and Hong Chung were confirmed to the Elections Committee. A new member, Harfateh Singh Grewal, was confirmed to the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission. The Senate appointed two senators to the Marketing Committee, one to the Student Health and Wellness Committee and one to the Committee on Committees.
A bill was passed that changed the name of ASUCD City and County Affairs to City and Community Relations. Another bill that would require the members of the Senate to sing the Aggie Fight song before each meeting failed. A bill to clarify the exact due dates for ASUCD scholarships was passed. A Senate Resolution was created to thank Anne Myler and Mark Champagne for their work with ASUCD.
During the first Senate meeting of the year, held on Sept. 26, the Senate overrode the ASUCD President Carly Sandstrom’s veto of a bill that gave $1,500 to community-specific graduations. The Senate also uncovered that it had lost $128,000. The deficit was mainly due to the Bike Barn. Bike Barn had made poor investments such as buying more than 200 rental bikes and overstaffing, and hid it from ASUCD, according to Maxwell Kappes, an ASUCD Senator.
JORDYN MAY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
