ASUW’s final meeting of the fall semester lasted nearly three hours in which six pieces of legislation were debated and voted on, one requiring that the Senate enter the Committee of the Whole.
In order for the Senate to vote on Senate Bill #2847: Special Project Allocations for ASUW Fiscal Year 2023 the Senate needed to enter into Committee of the Whole, in which the Senate dissolved and became a large committee that provided the necessary recommendation for how the bill should be voted on.
This comes after a statement, included with weekly meeting materials and the agenda, that was released on Monday, Dec. 5.
The ASUW Budgeting & Planning (B&P) Committee statement highlighted one application proposed increasing the availability of Plan B to students by using endowment funds to purchase products for approximately 350 students.
Although the project was reviewed and approved through the B&P Committee as per the standards for all special projects applicants, the legislation was pulled hours before ASUW’s Nov. 15, 2022 meeting.
According to the B&P Committee, “Out of an abundance of caution, upper administration contacted UW’s General Counsel to verify that ASUW could fund Plan B. As a result, the General Counsel is now reviewing the endowments to determine the original source of the funds and how they may be spent.”
“The ASUW B&P Committee acknowledges the ongoing questions regarding endowment funds and their use. By approving this legislation, the B&P committee is hopeful these endowment funds will be able to fund all special projects as outlined in ASUW’s process as has been practiced for over twenty years.”
On the note of endowments, another piece of legislation was the Senate Bill #2833: Creation of a Separate Endowments Policy which clarifies what endowments are and what ASUW can do with the money from those endowments.
Before the bill passed unanimously, the Steering Committee recommended that the bill be tabled indefinitely due to repeated grammatical errors. However, Senator Brittany Stadler wanted to have it reconsidered.
“In over a month no changes have been made to this bill but I believe it is needed so that all Senators can understand and have a reference to what endowments mean instead of going off of only the Senators of Budget and Planning and it’s not acceptable to rely on subject matter experts,” Stadler said.
Senate Bill # 2840: Assigning Restructuring as a Duty of the Program, Institutional, and Development Committee was also passed unanimously.
Senate Bill # 2841: Changing of ASUW Program and Partner Expectations to Attend ASUW Committees or ASUW Senate was then read for the second time and debated as well.
Senator Anthony Castronovo was an author of the bill and spoke on its behalf.
“We believe that it is more beneficial for our Partners and Programs to have the option to attend committee meetings instead of Senate meetings as they have only so many hours dedicated toward ASUW.”
Senate Bill #2842: Implementation of a Senator Vacancy Board passed in order to help with the future elections that will take place next semester as several current Senators will be leaving.
Senate Resolution #2843: ASUW Support of the Re-Introduction of Anti-Hazing Legislation in the Wyoming State Legislature and Senate Resolution #2844: ASUW Recommendations for UW Parking & Transportation and Work of the ASUW Ad-Hoc Parking Committee passed as well.
The next ASUW meeting will take place on Jan. 17, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. All students are welcome to attend.
