Council Clippings Senate and House

Last week, constant moves by individual senators to bring bills from new business to old caused a lengthy meeting. Senators had to leave for class, and quorum was lost before all the bills in old business had been considered.

This week, Vice President Robin Bechtel cracked down. She reminded senators of the two-week cycle of bill submission and consideration. Several times, she limited question times and debate periods in an attempt to speed the meeting along.

Senators went so far as to reconvene in the student government conference room after another group kicked them out of the Student Services building meeting room. There, crowded around the small conference table, they were largely able to clear the backlog.

Senators untabled and passed a joint allocation to Mid-Autumn Festival.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senator Eric Clopper spoke against the bill, saying that it happened whether the Senate funded it or not. Clopper said he wanted to give priority to organizations that come to SGA as a last resort. Another senator said that the organization has already been charged for the event, and thus the senate should help them.

Senators also passed an allocation to the Society of Women Engineers so that a group of students could attend nationals in Birmingham.

Senators untabled a joint allocation to Interfraternity Council. The bill was to fund the grand opening of Technology Square later this month. Organization representative Adam Bernstein said that failure to pass the bill would effectively kill the event.

Senators also approved a bill reallocating a portion of last year’s budget. The organization requested that the money be allocated for one purpose, but during the budget-making process, it was allocated for another. Technically, the organization needed approval to spend the allocated funds for what they originally intended.

The Senate also approved members Eric Clopper as Graduate Senate Coordinator and Teag Haughan as Treasurer.

An allocation bill to GTCOW was withdrawn.