Due to logistical concerns, the Student Association Senate rejected three out of five constitutional amendments proposed by Sen. Gregory Haynes and recommended re-drafting by SA Assembly.
Haynes created and proposed the amendments, which were passed two weeks ago by the Assembly, in light of the recent controversy surrounding a budget passed by last year's senate calling for payment of the SA Executive Board's tuition through the mandatory student activity fee.
According to Haynes, last year's SA Senate did not do anything wrong when they approved the current budget, but measures were needed to prevent such a stipend increase from occurring in the future.
"It's pretty clear I need to go back to the Assembly to make changes to the amendments," Haynes said. "I'm really glad that we're going to iron out some technicalities."
SA President Christian Oliver vetoed a sixth amendment, which, if passed, would have required the executive board to present a list of stipend recipients that are paid with money from the Mandatory Student Activity Fee and the amounts of those stipends.
"I feel it was an overreaction to the proposed tuition scandal," Oliver said. "In a practical sense, there is a reason the e-board is in charge of the staff's stipend, and they're not publicized."
Oliver said information regarding staff stipends is already available to senators upon request. Because there are approximately 60 staff members who receive stipends from SA, Oliver said the amendment was "counterproductive to efficiency of SA."
Currently, the SA Constitution states that if the senate is unable to approve a proposed budget, the Emergency Powers Council - on which members of the e-board serve - has the power to approve the entire budget.
Haynes' proposed amendment would limit the Emergency Powers Council to only approving portions of the budget that do not affect compensation of the e-board and mandated that the senate approve e-board stipends by April 23.
The senate rejected this proposal - along with another proposal that stated all non-executive board stipends must also be approved by April 23 - because of questions regarding what would happen to the stipends if the budget were not passed prior to that date.
"What happens if the budget is not approved by April 23?" Sen. Paul Balzano asked. "The e-board could not be compensated at all."
Lorenzo Guzman, special interest, service and hobby clubs coordinator, said that a clause could be attached to the amendments so that a clear course of action is included in the event the senate has not passed a budget.
Guzman suggested a subsection stating stipends default to the previous year's amounts in the event the senate failed to pass the budget.
SA Senate Chairman Anthony Burgio said it was appropriate for the amendments return to the SA Assembly for revision.
"Whenever you change a constitution, there are still implications that are not seen," Burgio said. "The amendments will probably be voted on again by the end of the semester."
Haynes said the two amendments which were passed will help make the senate a more independent body.
"It will eliminate any potential conflict of interests," said Haynes.
One of the amendments the senate passed dealt with separating the compensation of the SA president, vice president and treasurer from all other budget points. The amendment would allow the senate to discuss and vote upon those items separately.
According to Haynes, this was one of the most important amendments concerning the controversy around e-board compensation.
"This amendment was not put here to condemn anyone, but to allow the process to be more open," said Haynes.
The other amendment the senate passed made the position of SA treasurer, currently Naazli Ahmed, an ex-officio, non-voting member of the senate.
According to Haynes, the presence of the treasurer as a voting member of the senate could undermine the senate's purpose.
"Is the senate an independent check on the treasurer or an advising body?" asked Haynes.
Burgio said having treasurer present at senate meetings is not a conflict of interest.
"It's voting which makes it a conflict of interest," Burgio said.
In an unrelated issue, the senate decided that the chairman of the senate would write a formal letter requesting the treasurer bring line transfers - which allow the transfer of money from one portion of the budget to another - to the senate for approval.
Burgio said the request would be made because line transfers have not been brought forward to the senate at all this semester.
Haynes said the line transfers were not presented due to a scheduling conflict with Ahmed, who was unable to attend senate meetings.
Burgio said there have been times in the past where line transfers were not looked over by the senate for even longer periods of time. He also said it was a responsibility of the treasurer to present line transfers to the senate.
