Senators almost found themselves speechless when their penultimate meeting ended after a mere hour and 10 minutes.
There was no gaping error in the proceedings that caused them to end earlier than usual, aside from nearly missing the requirement to establish quorum (eight senators must be at the table at all times). Each senator appeared knowledgeable about the bills and resolutions on the table, thus limiting the often unnecessary or redundant comments for which they have become known.
The senators passed three bills and one resolution after a non-existent public forum.
Bill 80: Taxi Voucher, which passed unanimously, allocates funds for students in need of emergency medical transportation.
“Students being transported for a medical emergency from campus to one of the two medical facilities in Merced will be offered a taxi voucher from either [Housing and Residence Life]/Health Center staff or Campus police,” reads the bill that was introduced by Senator Jared Zisser.
Bill 81: Court Bylaws was also passed with unanimous approval from the senators. The regrouped ASUCM Court drafted these revised by-laws over the last few weeks.
Senator Zacharas Daniel, who introduced the bill, said that recently Court has “arguably outperformed the rest of AUSCM.”
Senator Zisser also introduced Bill 82: ASUCM Club Event Archive. This bill will “require each senator to hand their respective club an ‘RCO Report’ [s]heet within a week of the club receiving funds from ASUCM, and then hand the filled out report back to the Senator within two days time.”
Bill 80 was built on the idea that ASUCM funds a number of annual events, but there is no official record of the outcome of these events.
Senator Zachary Mondo, who voted in favor of the bill, stated that Bill 80 would “make it easier to look back at what we’ve done for clubs and what the clubs have done for us.”
Though three senators opposed Bill 80, it was passed.
Resolution 16: Solidarity against Discriminatory Questioning for Blood Donations is already passed at the UC Davis campus. This resolution calls for the end of questions directed toward men who have sex with other men, which eventually bars them from donating blood. Resolution 16 also passed unanimously.
One meeting remains for the Spring semester and soon the recently elected officials will be inaugurated into their respective offices. The most notable transition is the president-elect of ASUCM, who currently holds the position of internal vice president, Ivan Flores.
Valorie Smart
Former Editor-in-Chief
vsmart@ucmerced.edu