Senator Nicolas Parra proposed SB50 at the USG meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 11, which focused on violations of election codes and bylaws. (Photo by Ryan Liu)Four bills were proposed at Tuesday night's Undergraduate Student Government meeting in Tempe.
The first bill proposed and passed provided funding to the ASU Undie Run in the amount of $18,576.23. The money will be used to provide security at the event. Sen. Nathan Duell opposed the bill and said he does not believe the Undie Run is an academic opportunity and he didn't believe the senate should use student activity fee money to fund the effort.
Senate Bill 49 failed to pass and was proposed by Sen. Nicolas Parra. The bill was focused on making sure the election commissioner and assistant election commissioner were unbiased in all decisions that may arise over the course of the coming elections.
USG Tempe President Jordan Davis said he thinks it will be nearly impossible for conflicts to arise.
"There is no way this can be rigged or anything, because we all voted for Michelle Daniels for the position," he said.
Sen. Tristian Trevino said the bill was a checks and balances bill to make sure everything ran smoothly.
Senate Bill 50, also proposed by Parra, failed to pass. The bill called for a suspension to the coming elections until a Supreme Court Justice was appointed by Davis.
"We want to make sure the elections happen fairly for all ASU students," Parra said.
After lengthy arguments, the bill failed to pass after Davis said nothing would come of the bill even if it was passed.
"Elections are University-wide, and this bill would have to pass on all of the other campuses, and the body here doesn't have the authority to suspend the elections," he said.
Dan Ashlock, adviser to the USG, confirmed Davis's remarks and said if the bill passed, absolutely nothing would happen.
The bill was called a do-nothing bill by Davis, which caused Parra to say Davis' presidency was a "do-nothing presidency."
After the debate and the bills' failure to pass, senators voiced their opinions on how the debate was handled.
Sen. Jordan Hibbs was disappointed with the handling of the debate.
"They ended the speakers list for SB 50 after only four speakers," she said. "I am disappointed to not be able to speak on behalf of my constituents."
Vice President of Policy Casey Clowes ended the night asking the senate to work on important ideas.
"I think the senate needs to work on things that can affect the students and not just write legislation to have your name on something," she said.
Reach the reporter at jshanco2@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @joey_hancock
