Undergraduate Student Government Tempe senators voted on a variety of appropriation bills during Tuesday's meeting and confirmed Shane Pund as assistant elections commissioner.
A representative from Big Brother Big Sisters of Central Arizona gave a short presentation asking for volunteers from members of the senate.
Sen. Ao Jiao, who is running for reelection for the W. P. Carey School of Business, discussed his recent interaction with the student disabilities services at ASU and how he wasn't pleased. He said he is looking for ways to make the services better for students on the Tempe campus.
Senator of the year nominations took place with Sen. Tristian Trevino nominating Sen. Wesley Scatena. Trevino said he has done a great job and has created a great process for appropriating college councils.
Sen. Kevin Moore nominated Sen. Nathan Duell, saying it would be hard to find someone with more conviction than him.
Sen. Nick VandenNieuwenhof nominated Sen. Will Smith, saying he has worked extremely hard and has done great things.
Duell nominated Jiao, saying he is one of the most passionate senators in the 11th legislature.
Sen. Jordan Hibbs nominated herself, as well as Sen. Daniel Martin, Sen. Nicolas Parra, Sen. Michael Arcaro, Sen. Stephen Gamboa, Sen. Nick Haney and Sen. Eric Wilson.
Tempe USG President Jordan Davis gave his report and said he felt the council presidents will have some good luck getting the tuition proposals approved. Jeffrey Tambor of "Arrested Development" will be coming to the Tempe campus April 8 and ice cream sandwiches will be provided to audience members.
LGBTQA Coalition President Isabelle Murray said the organization had its elections on Thursday and she was re-elected as president for another year.
The Womyn's Coalition will be having its Mosaic conference on April 12 for social justice issues about which that students may not normally think.
The finance committee is working on a transitional packet for the new members of the 12th legislature in the fall.
University Affairs discussed creating more water bottle filling stations on campus and has discussed the issue with contractors. Parra discussed the issue of bike theft on campus and the difficulty in identifying suspects because of poor quality cameras around campus. He said he has emailed the police department but has not heard back.
Trevino, the government operations chairman, said the committee had talked about a way to better the election of a senate president and has been looking at the bylaws and noticed some things were not being done. The committee will be looking into these issues, he said.
Parra presented Senate Bill 68 Oozeball, an annual Sun Devils Unite mud volleyball tournament. Every year for the past 30 years it has been funded by the USG and the directors of the Oozeball event were asking for $4,000 to put on the tournament.
The bill passed and will give the Alumni Association $4,000 to hold the tournament.
Jiao presented Senate Bill 69 Assistant Elections Commissioner which passed, appointing Shane Pund as assistant elections commissioner.
Jiao presented Senate Bill 70, the Business of Fashion bill, asking for money in the amount of $1,300 for an event which will bring in speakers and a fashion show for the students and by the students.
The bill passed, and funding will be given to BOF.
Jiao presented Senate Bill 71, the disability bill, which will improve the disability services on campus. The bill asked that the safety escort will start at 6:45 p.m. instead of 7:00 p.m. and end at 2:00 a.m. in order to benefit more students with disabilities.
Trevino said the bill needed to have more research and said the senators needed to speak with the safety escort director to see what could be done in the future.
The bill was moved to the University Affairs Committee to do further research.
Senate Bill 72 was presented by Jiao and is an appropriation bill for Woman as Hero in the amount of $2,300 for an event and bringing in speakers from out of state and passed by a large majority.
Senate Bill 73 was presented by Trevino as an act to better the senate president election process. Trevino urged senate members to attend the committee to discuss the bill and was moved into committee.
Senate Bill 74 was presented by Sen. Daniel Martin as a senate presidential candidates act and would change the length of time a senator has to serve before being eligible for senate president. Right now, a senator has to serve at least one full term as senator before eligibility.
Martin referred the bill to the Government Affairs Committee. After a lengthy objection by Jiao, Senate President Alexis Gonzalez moved the bill into committee for further research.
Parra introduced Senate Bill 75, an act to appropriate funds in the amount of $3,197.44 to the applied entrepreneurship club.
Duell expressed multiple concerns with the bill. The amount asked during the appropriations process was different than what was being asked for at Tuesday's meeting.
It was also mentioned that the organization was new, but the group's OrgSync page showed the organization was actually founded in 2012.
A representative of the organization said a past president had left the organization empty until this year.
Duell said because there were strict appropriation guidelines it would not be fair to the other organizations who had been previously approved. Duell friendly amended the bill to $462 to which Parra agreed.
The bill passed and the organization will receive $462.
Smith introduced Senate bill 76, an act approving additional funds for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences College Council's Oasis in the Desert in the amount of $2,200.
Oasis is an event put on by the CLAS and takes place as an end-of-the-year relaxation and socialization event for CLAS students.
The bill passed, and CLAS will receive the full funds.
To end the meeting, Senate President Alexis Gonzalez announced Sen. Will Smith as "Senator of the Month."
Reach the reporter at jshanco2@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @joey_hancock
