Club Funding Reform Bill

The Senate voted unanimously to pass the Club Funding Reform Bill (OB-16S-2945).

Club Alliance Director Zachary Mease said the old system wasn’t helping anyone.

The previous system required Registered Student Organizations (RSO) to request funding a year in advance. They could receive $300 unconditionally or a supplemental allocation of $200.

“Clubs were requesting money and then changing their leadership and forgetting about the money,” Mease said.

A key measure was defining a closed RSO and an open RSO. Closed RSO have requirements such as GPA, specific majors or dues.

Another change prohibited clubs from directly donating A&S fees to philanthropic or political organizations. Mease said this had not occurred in the past, but he wanted the law to be tightened.

“You can throw an event that raises awareness for a philanthropic organization, but you cannot use A&S fees to directly give to that cause,” said Attorney General Dana Baker, co-author of the bill.

The law also eliminated the clubs’ travel request limit. In the past, clubs could only request funding before the Club Funding Board four times. If a club exceeded the request limit, they had to wait a year. Clubs can still request up to $2,000 a semester.

If a club’s funding request is denied they can appeal to the Senate.

“We looked at how changes could affect students ten years from now,” said Christopher Jordan, the bill’s sponsor. “These aren’t just short term fixes.”

The changes will be enacted July 1.

Policy and Procedures revised

Senate President Pro-Tempore Dallas Burke attributed the policies and procedures revisions, also passing unanimously, specifying Senate officer responsibilities. This revision clarified senate procedures and organizing of the wording of the policies and procedures.

Burke said the other goal was to make it easier for senators to shed absence points while benefiting the student body.

“Our goal was to streamline the volunteer process and encourage more senators to volunteer more for our agency events,” said Burke.

Absence policy senators can volunteer at agency events to remove absence points. Any volunteer hours used to remove absence points cannot be used toward the 10 hours required for the student government scholarship application.

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