In their final meeting of the quarter, Associated Students Legislative Council prepared for the Spring Elections by placing a measure for more money on the ballot.

To prevent future debt, A.S. is requesting a $5.90 increase of the Student Services and Activities Fee – otherwise known as the base fee – bringing the total fee to $15. Students currently pay $9.10 per quarter, and have done so for the past 21 years.

The proposed increase, which passed 18-2, would replace the recharge fees A.S. now charges its organizations to cover various administrative costs.

Most council members agreed that student government cannot continue to offer the same services as they do now without the proposed increase. However, the ballot proposal does not account for long-term issues, such as inflation.

One proposed solution was to put another measure on the ballot allowing Leg Council to raise the base fee by up to$1 per year with a three-fourths vote, as opposed to an election.

Rep-at-Large Shaina Walter said the proposal would allow Leg Council to decide how much of an increase, if any, would be required each year, after an annual reevaluation of the budget.

“This requires a super, super majority to do and it sends the message to the students that [Leg Council] is not going to just arbitrarily raise the fee,” she said.

Opponents to the proposition, including Off-Campus Rep Russell Johnson, said the amendment would give Leg Council too much power.

“If anything takes away the voice of the students, this does,” he said. “This is the most tyrannical thing that could be put on the ballot. We’re supposed to be defending student rights, not taking them away.”

Another idea, proposed by Off-Campus Rep Matt McMillan, called for an annual base fee increase of 4 percent. However, council members did not like the way the increase would vary from year to year, or that it would be automatically implemented unless Leg Council voted against it each year. Many council members also felt the proposal was not straightforward enough to gain student support.

Both amendments failed.

More than 30 students attended Wednesday’s Legislative Council Meeting to speak in favor of a resolution stating A.S.’s support of the repeal of the UC Board of Regents’ Standing Policy-1. SP-1 was passed in 1995, and eliminated the use of race and gender in the admissions and hiring process in the UC System.

Opponents of the policy cite SP-1 as the reason that percentages of underrepresented students enrolled in the UC System do not reflect the overall percentages of minorities throughout the state. Although Affirmative Action is illegal in California after the passage of Prop 209, many groups want to overturn SP-1 as a symbolic gesture.

Off-Campus Representative Ana Rizo said SP-1 is just part of a larger issue concerning the overall attitude toward public education in this country.

“The way this country promotes education is completely wrong,” she said. “We treat it like it’s a privilege. It’s not. Education is a right.”

Rep-at-Large Eneri Rodriguez called the resolution a huge step forward toward racial equality.

“This position paper is a huge part of UCSB and the whole UC system’s move toward racial equality,” she said. “This will not only help people get education but jobs after college as well.”

Leg Council passed the resolution 14-6 after almost two hours of discussion.

In other news, Leg Council unanimously approved a position paper calling for the expansion of the Internet bandwidth for the ResNet Service. ResNet is available to students who live in both University-owned and on-campus housing. Frequent users of the service, including Walter, complain the service is often overloaded, making it unacceptably slow.

“The university should not subject us to slow speeds when it has the capacity to do more,” she said. “Students should not have to wait until 4 a.m. to use the Internet.”