In a session that lasted just over an hour, with little discussion, the ASUW Senate passed four and introduced three new pieces of legislation.
“This was the shortest senate meeting ever,” Vice President of ASUW Jaynie Welsh said during processing at the end of the session.
The first piece of legislation passed was Senate Resolution No. 2603, ASUW Support of Fraternity/Sorority Life’s Redevelopment of Greek Week. Before it was passed with unanimous consent, Jalynn Van Baalen, representative from the Interfraternity Council said that this redevelopment represented Greek Life moving towards becoming a better environment for developing future leaders.
The second piece of legislation that was considered was SR No. 2605, ASUW Support for the Construction Management Degree Program. This resolution was tabled for further consideration by the Advocacy, Diversity and Policy Committee.
The third piece of legislation was Senate Bill No. 2606, Revisions to the Senate Vacancy Procedures. According to the legislation, the purpose of this bill was to eliminate any confusion that could arise from special elections and general election occurring at the same time. This bill was passed with unanimous consent.
The fourth piece of legislation was SB No. 2607, Updates to the Strategic Partnership. According to the bill, its purpose is to reduce the cumbersome and arbitrary oversight that oversaw the strategic partnerships with the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Council. Like the other pieces of legislation passed, this bill received unanimous consent.
The fifth and final piece of old business was SB No. 2608, ASUW Support for the Updated University Regulation 8-249 “ASUW Student Government.” This bill was considered by the whole committee, where the entire ASUW Senate acts as a committee and gives a recommendation on whether the bill should be passed. This was necessary as a clerical error prevented it from reaching the committee it was supposed to be considered by.
According to SB No. 2608, the bill would give ASUW support for a change of the university regulation that governs it, which would give ASUW the sole authority to make recommendations to changing mandatory student fees. This bill was given a do pass recommendation by the whole committee and was passed with unanimous consent.
With the completion of old business, the Senate moved onto new business where three new pieces of legislation were introduced.
The first piece to be introduced was SB No. 2609, Removal of WyoVocal. According to the bill, WyoVocal, an internet tool used for filing petitions to ASUW, should be discontinued.
“Few formal actions or pieces of legislation have come as a result of WyoVocal suggestions from the UW student population,” the bill accords as a reason behind introducing this legislation.
The next bill that was introduced was SB No. 2610, Changes to the Finance Policy Pertaining to Tangible Prizes. This legislation would change the ASUW finance policy to allow for RSOs to use money from ASUW towards buying prizes to be awarded during their events.
According to the language of the bill, many RSOs feel that it would be beneficial for them to have the ability to give away prizes and that the success of the Campus Activities Center, having a similar policy, are reasons for this proposed change.
The final piece of legislation introduced was SB No. 2611, Pronoun Revisions to the ASUW Constitution. This bill would put a referendum on the upcoming ASUW elections ballots that would read, “Should the ASUW Constitution be amended to use singular ‘they’ and ‘their’ rather than ‘he/she’ and ‘his/hers.’”
