USF Sarasota-Manatee Student Government Association Legislative ...
USF Sarasota-Manatee Student Government Association Legislative Branch 11/29/16
Legislative Branch Members in Attendance: Ricardo Centeno, Corinne Tucker, Jeanie Ziven, Jaime Hernandez, Anthony Alibro, Barry Callahan, Sami Araboghli Student Services Members in Attendance: Darren Gambrell* 8:34 AM Guest(s): Sydney Whitlock, Associate Justice; Jamie Williams Call to Order: Ricardo calls the meeting to order on November 29th, 2016 at 8:31 AM. Amendments to the Meeting Agenda: o Sami motions to amend the agenda to include SB [A] 42-007 o Corinne seconds o The motion passes and SB [A] 42-007 has been added to the agenda o Jeanie motions to approve the agenda o Corinne seconds o The motion passes and the agenda has been approved Amendments to the Meeting Minutes: o Corinne moves to approve the minutes o Jaime seconds o The motion passes and the minutes from November 8th, 2016 have been approved Senate President Updates: o The Undie Run is tonight o Please participate and bring clothes. Clothes will be collected the entire week o Senator Elections o Today is the last day to vote in the Midterm elections o JuSenEx Update o Sami says that the JuSenEx only had five members in attendance, so not that much was discussed. Darren Updates: o December 11th is Fall 2016 graduation. If students have any concerns, send them to Darren. Also, the Golden Bull awardee is Jennifer Caba. Volunteer opportunities are available for commencement. Old Business: o N/A New Business: o Budget Committee Chair o Budget will need a Chair for the new Semester. Ricardo opens the floor up for discussion Corinne asks if it would be wise to elect a Budget Chair at this time, and not wait until after the Senate is full Andre says that’s an option, but new Senators would probably not want to take up the responsibility of such an important committee Anthony agrees with Andre, and says that if a new Senator took on the position of Chair they would probably “get rekt” Andre says that whoever is here now would be able to take on that load
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Jeanie says that in the ROP, it says that when there’s an absence of Chair, then that’s when they need to be elected. Jeanie says that it doesn’t specify when they have to do it, just that they have to do it. Ricardo says that the Budget will become active right at the beginning of the Spring Semester Corinne says she would like to nominate Jeanie Ziven as Budget Chair Sami seconds Discussion o Corinne says that Jeanie is competent and a natural leader, with a vision and direction of where she thinks the Senate can go. She says Jeanie would be an excellent choice o Darren asks the Senate whether or not Jeanie is going to accept the nomination Ricardo asks Jeanie if she accepts it Jeanie asks if she can have a minute to think about it o Barry says that the motion is on the table Jeanie says she’ll accept the nomination o Jeanie asks if she should abstain from voting Barry says if she believes it to be a conflict of interest, then yes The motion passes and Jeanie is now the Chair of the Budget committee o Anthony asks if they should nominate the Vice Chair now too Corinne and Ricardo says the committee hasn’t been formed yet Anthony says might as well do it now, yolo Corinne nominates Anthony Alibro as Vice Chair of the Budget Committee Sami seconds Discussion o Ricardo asks if Anthony accepts the nomination Anthony says yes o Corinne thinks Anthony has shown true leadership and that he’d be an excellent Vice Chair The motion passes and Anthony Alibro is now the Vice Chair of the Budget committee SB [A] 42-007 Student Veterans of America Conference o Sponsored by Sami Araboghli. The purpose of this appropriation is to provide additional funding to the USFSM Student Veteran Society in order for them to be able to attend the Student Veterans of America Conference from January 4-8 in Anaheim, CA. o Q&A Darren asks how they’ll get to and from the airport Jamie says that the airport is so close to the conference that no shuttle or rental car is needed Anthony asks if they tried looking into flying through Tampa Jamie says yes, and it was exactly the same price Jeanie asks for a little more information about what the conference is Jamie says its three days long, with six sessions per day- that’s why they would like to send six people, so everyone can gain information from a session. Valuable information and resources will be discussed, such as for female veterans or disabled veterans, etc. Anthony asks when they looked for the flights
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Jamie and Sami reply that they looked yesterday. Sami said they did look earlier, but the member who was coordinating for this trip is going through personal issues at this time Ricardo asks if any of the members planning to on the trip are graduating this winter Sami and Jamie reply no Corinne motions for Open Discussion Anthony seconds The motion passes and a period of Open Discussion begins Open Discussion Corinne points out a discrepancy with the amounts on the bill Barry recommends that they add a sweep exemption, in the case that Todd Hughes’ travel is paid for by Veteran Affairs. Andre motions to add a sweep exemption to the appropriation: “Any funds not used for the Conference will be swept back into Senate appropriations” Jeanie seconds The motion passes and a sweep exemption has been added to the bill Corinne motions to amend the bill to reflect “Source of funding: Senate Appropriations – $2,504.20 will be transferred from…” Andre seconds The motion passes and the bill has been amended to reflect the correct amount Andre moves to approve SB [A] 42-007 as amended Corinne seconds Discussion o Corinne thinks this is a great opportunity for the Veterans club to gain some useful and important information The motion passes and SB [A] 42-007 has been approved as amended o 1 Abstention, Sami Araboghli
Open forum o Jamie thanks the Senate for approving the bill- this is the first time that the Veteran’s Association has gotten the opportunity to go and they’re going to make the most of their visit o Andre cites Corinne’s earlier opinion that Senators should not liaison for clubs that they are a part of. He says that if a bill is on the floor and a Senator is a part of that club, they should take it upon themselves to abstain. o Corinne says that of course she is going to passionately explain why the club she is a part of is deserving of funding- however, what she thinks would be more appropriate is a Senator advocating for a club whilst not being a part of the club. She stresses the concept of moving beyond our boundaries and not sticking to what makes us comfortable. o Ricardo says that Corinne makes a valid point, and that there’s always the possibility of implicit bias within an individual. Ricardo encourages Senators to invite club officers to Senate and appropriations meetings. Andre agrees with Ricardo. He says that being a part of a club and representing the club is not a conflict of interest Corinne says she wouldn’t call it a conflict of interest, she just believes that it would benefit Senators more to represent clubs that they have no specific ties to. It would help them with impartiality and networking with more students o Andre says she can always write a bill. Or, alternatively
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Senators can keep this in mind when they choose clubs to liaison for at the beginning of the term Corinne gives the Senate a fun fact: The earth is literally going through a phase called the Sixth extinction. o Ricardo says he’s gonna have an existential crisis now o Andre says she should do a fact of the day
Updates: o
JEC
The JEC just had their Lunch & Learn- they will be discussing how to make it better for next semester. Appropriations: o They haven’t met in a while due to no appropriations sent forward. Last meeting they discussed the Budget committee, and the gradual lessening of club funding Amendments: o New meeting times are Tuesday at 4 PM. They will begin working on Title 7 UCGA: o They are contacting local businesses for the fun and fitness expo in January. o For the IT Governance Committee that Sami sits on, they were very happy to get the survey results in regards to technology use, from the Food for Thought o For the Day at the Capitol Planning Committee, they are working on a flier that will be used on all campuses. Day at the Capitol is February 7th-9th in Tallahassee. o
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Meeting Adjourned: Meeting adjourned at 9:13 AM.
Legislative Branch Members in Attendance: Ricardo Centeno, Corinne Tucker, Jeanie Ziven, Jaime Hernandez, Anthony Alibro, Barry Callahan, Sami Araboghli Student Services Members in Attendance: Darren Gambrell* 8:34 AM Guest(s): Sydney Whitlock, Associate Justice; Jamie Williams Call to Order: Ricardo calls the meeting to order on November 29th, 2016 at 8:31 AM. Amendments to the Meeting Agenda: o Sami motions to amend the agenda to include SB [A] 42-007 o Corinne seconds o The motion passes and SB [A] 42-007 has been added to the agenda o Jeanie motions to approve the agenda o Corinne seconds o The motion passes and the agenda has been approved Amendments to the Meeting Minutes: o Corinne moves to approve the minutes o Jaime seconds o The motion passes and the minutes from November 8th, 2016 have been approved Senate President Updates: o The Undie Run is tonight o Please participate and bring clothes. Clothes will be collected the entire week o Senator Elections o Today is the last day to vote in the Midterm elections o JuSenEx Update o Sami says that the JuSenEx only had five members in attendance, so not that much was discussed. Darren Updates: o December 11th is Fall 2016 graduation. If students have any concerns, send them to Darren. Also, the Golden Bull awardee is Jennifer Caba. Volunteer opportunities are available for commencement. Old Business: o N/A New Business: o Budget Committee Chair o Budget will need a Chair for the new Semester. Ricardo opens the floor up for discussion Corinne asks if it would be wise to elect a Budget Chair at this time, and not wait until after the Senate is full Andre says that’s an option, but new Senators would probably not want to take up the responsibility of such an important committee Anthony agrees with Andre, and says that if a new Senator took on the position of Chair they would probably “get rekt” Andre says that whoever is here now would be able to take on that load
o
Jeanie says that in the ROP, it says that when there’s an absence of Chair, then that’s when they need to be elected. Jeanie says that it doesn’t specify when they have to do it, just that they have to do it. Ricardo says that the Budget will become active right at the beginning of the Spring Semester Corinne says she would like to nominate Jeanie Ziven as Budget Chair Sami seconds Discussion o Corinne says that Jeanie is competent and a natural leader, with a vision and direction of where she thinks the Senate can go. She says Jeanie would be an excellent choice o Darren asks the Senate whether or not Jeanie is going to accept the nomination Ricardo asks Jeanie if she accepts it Jeanie asks if she can have a minute to think about it o Barry says that the motion is on the table Jeanie says she’ll accept the nomination o Jeanie asks if she should abstain from voting Barry says if she believes it to be a conflict of interest, then yes The motion passes and Jeanie is now the Chair of the Budget committee o Anthony asks if they should nominate the Vice Chair now too Corinne and Ricardo says the committee hasn’t been formed yet Anthony says might as well do it now, yolo Corinne nominates Anthony Alibro as Vice Chair of the Budget Committee Sami seconds Discussion o Ricardo asks if Anthony accepts the nomination Anthony says yes o Corinne thinks Anthony has shown true leadership and that he’d be an excellent Vice Chair The motion passes and Anthony Alibro is now the Vice Chair of the Budget committee SB [A] 42-007 Student Veterans of America Conference o Sponsored by Sami Araboghli. The purpose of this appropriation is to provide additional funding to the USFSM Student Veteran Society in order for them to be able to attend the Student Veterans of America Conference from January 4-8 in Anaheim, CA. o Q&A Darren asks how they’ll get to and from the airport Jamie says that the airport is so close to the conference that no shuttle or rental car is needed Anthony asks if they tried looking into flying through Tampa Jamie says yes, and it was exactly the same price Jeanie asks for a little more information about what the conference is Jamie says its three days long, with six sessions per day- that’s why they would like to send six people, so everyone can gain information from a session. Valuable information and resources will be discussed, such as for female veterans or disabled veterans, etc. Anthony asks when they looked for the flights
o o
Jamie and Sami reply that they looked yesterday. Sami said they did look earlier, but the member who was coordinating for this trip is going through personal issues at this time Ricardo asks if any of the members planning to on the trip are graduating this winter Sami and Jamie reply no Corinne motions for Open Discussion Anthony seconds The motion passes and a period of Open Discussion begins Open Discussion Corinne points out a discrepancy with the amounts on the bill Barry recommends that they add a sweep exemption, in the case that Todd Hughes’ travel is paid for by Veteran Affairs. Andre motions to add a sweep exemption to the appropriation: “Any funds not used for the Conference will be swept back into Senate appropriations” Jeanie seconds The motion passes and a sweep exemption has been added to the bill Corinne motions to amend the bill to reflect “Source of funding: Senate Appropriations – $2,504.20 will be transferred from…” Andre seconds The motion passes and the bill has been amended to reflect the correct amount Andre moves to approve SB [A] 42-007 as amended Corinne seconds Discussion o Corinne thinks this is a great opportunity for the Veterans club to gain some useful and important information The motion passes and SB [A] 42-007 has been approved as amended o 1 Abstention, Sami Araboghli
Open forum o Jamie thanks the Senate for approving the bill- this is the first time that the Veteran’s Association has gotten the opportunity to go and they’re going to make the most of their visit o Andre cites Corinne’s earlier opinion that Senators should not liaison for clubs that they are a part of. He says that if a bill is on the floor and a Senator is a part of that club, they should take it upon themselves to abstain. o Corinne says that of course she is going to passionately explain why the club she is a part of is deserving of funding- however, what she thinks would be more appropriate is a Senator advocating for a club whilst not being a part of the club. She stresses the concept of moving beyond our boundaries and not sticking to what makes us comfortable. o Ricardo says that Corinne makes a valid point, and that there’s always the possibility of implicit bias within an individual. Ricardo encourages Senators to invite club officers to Senate and appropriations meetings. Andre agrees with Ricardo. He says that being a part of a club and representing the club is not a conflict of interest Corinne says she wouldn’t call it a conflict of interest, she just believes that it would benefit Senators more to represent clubs that they have no specific ties to. It would help them with impartiality and networking with more students o Andre says she can always write a bill. Or, alternatively
o
Senators can keep this in mind when they choose clubs to liaison for at the beginning of the term Corinne gives the Senate a fun fact: The earth is literally going through a phase called the Sixth extinction. o Ricardo says he’s gonna have an existential crisis now o Andre says she should do a fact of the day
Updates: o
JEC
The JEC just had their Lunch & Learn- they will be discussing how to make it better for next semester. Appropriations: o They haven’t met in a while due to no appropriations sent forward. Last meeting they discussed the Budget committee, and the gradual lessening of club funding Amendments: o New meeting times are Tuesday at 4 PM. They will begin working on Title 7 UCGA: o They are contacting local businesses for the fun and fitness expo in January. o For the IT Governance Committee that Sami sits on, they were very happy to get the survey results in regards to technology use, from the Food for Thought o For the Day at the Capitol Planning Committee, they are working on a flier that will be used on all campuses. Day at the Capitol is February 7th-9th in Tallahassee. o
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Meeting Adjourned: Meeting adjourned at 9:13 AM.
