Senate considers fee increases
Student Senators voted to increase safety and transportation fees
The fees have not been implemented yet.
By Brenna Hawley (Contact)
Thursday, March 27th, 2008
Student Senate committees met last night in the Kansas Union. Legislation must pass two committees before full Senate votes on its implementation next Wednesday.
Fee increases include transit and safety
The student rights committee voted to raise student fees by $8.20. The committee voted to raise the campus transportation fee $6.20, raise the SafeRide fee $1.50, and raise the campus safety fee $.50.
The finance committee heard this legislation and also a SUA fee increase of $.50. It did not pass the campus safety fee raise.
The student rights committee voted to raise the campus safety fee by $.50 to fund a new Jaywalk program and self-defense program. They also removed a sunset on the fee, which means it won’t have to be reapproved every year.
The finance committee approved removing the sunset but did not approve the increase. Both the student rights committee and the finance committee approved legislation to send a fee raise for universal busing access to referendum. If this passes in full Senate, the student body will vote during Student Senate elections to approve a $20 fee raise that would abolish all bus passes and fees to ride the bus.
Presidential veto power called into question
The student rights committee created four pieces of legislation last night. This week is the last time legislation can go through Senate this school year.
Tom Cox, holdover senator, created legislation to take away the student body president’s power to veto legislation that requires two-thirds of Senate to pass. Only changes to Senate rules require this number of votes to pass.
Cox also created legislation to not allow gifts to senators from the Athletics Department. He said this would not apply to athletes or members of the band. He said it would also not apply to events where the department invited all students.
Felix Zacharias, non-traditional senator, created legislation that would require chairpersons of committees that handle fees to be appointed at the last Senate meeting of the year. He said that he was chair of the student media fee board, and he felt like chairs needed more training from previous chairs. He said some information was lost during the summer when chairpersons were appointed later.
Emily Williams, Panhellenic senator and student rights committee secretary, created legislation to make agreements between Student Senate and other organizations binding by paper. She cited verbal agreements like the Athletics Department replacing parking spots after building the football facility.
Discussion
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I'm sorry, but that power to veto exists for a reason. If the senate is so worried about passing it, then they can override that veto with a 2/3 majority. Someone has to keep us all in check. I'm sorry, Tom Cox, but I don't want senate running wild when there isn't someone to put a check on us. I like the no gifts idea though. Kudos to you guys for that one.
I agree with Sam on the issue of veto power, but I think that Tom is just a little jealous that he has not received any "gifts" from the Athletics Dept. I have not received any gifts from Athletics, but I feel that we should not tell senators who they can receive things from.
At Tuesday's debate, the presidential candidate for Tom Cox's coalition said that they would be running on a "Have a say before you pay" platform. This policy requires a Student Body President to be able to veto bills passed by Student Senate that raise fees without a student vote. Raising a fee requires a 2/3 vote and thus Tom Cox's bill would not allow a veto of a fee increase. A student wouldn't get to have a say before they pay? So who's fooling you? Tom Cox or Connect?
All members of Students of Liberty are voluntarily signing a pledge to not take contributions/gifts from entities eligible for funding.
I'm really glad someone is trying to implement the same idea via legislation, however I think it says a lot more when people do it voluntarily, before they are forced to.
As a member of student senate, I assure you that if this legislation does get passed (which it might not...I think it's ridiculous) I will work to make sure that no student fees are passed through senate and will be put before the student body as a referendum. I do not think that the people who wrote this bill realize what they are doing. I think it was written as a response to the 3 vetos coming out of the President's office this week. I will vote this legislation down, and speak out against it if necessary.
Lastly, on the gifts. No senator should be receiving any gifts from any organization ever. I don't care if it's Athletics or some multicultural group, it's just not fair for us to receive funding or gifts from groups that we fund.
I think there is definite confusion.
The bill that Tom Cox proposed would only remove veto power when it is concerning rules and regulations.
The reasoning behind this is that in the US legislative system, any constitutional amendments - which require a 2/3 vote instead of a majority - cannot be vetoed by the President.
Currently in our Student Senate, rules and regulation changes - arguably the equivalent of a constitutional amendment, which also require a 2/3 vote - can be vetoed.
This is an amazing amount of veto power that even the US President does not have. Tom just aimed to get some checks and balances put into place.
I hope that clears up some issues.
Haha, Handy you really missed the ball on that one. Cox's bill removes checks and balances and gives unchecked power to the Student Senate to raise student fees without executive approval. In case you didn't know, student fees are a part of rules and regs. Get caught up. And please, tell me how many times the U.S. Congress amends the Constitution and how many times Student Senate changes rules and regs? Can you tell me the last time both bodies respectively did so? Thanks.
To answer kufan022's first question, I'm going to say Tom.
And Handy, Student Senate is not the US Legislature. It annoys me to know end when people try to justify changes to Senate to resemble that bickering cesspool in Washington.
I was just defending Tom's intent, and presenting his argument - as he isn't here to do it. I was not advocating or attacking it. Sorry?
And - I think that it does make student fees hard for the Student Body President to control. Much agreed.
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