With their last hurrah, the 2002-03 Associated Students Legislative Council showed the incoming representatives that Wednesday nights can provide all the tension and excitement of their favorite television shows, provided of course that they are fans of C-SPAN.

In its final meeting of the year, Leg Council rejected the appointment of a new member to A.S. Judicial Council and passed a new bill that increases the amount of money A.S. boards and committees with lock-in fees can use to pay honoraria to its members. Some of next year’s Leg Council members were also present at the meeting, and the current members gave their final remarks at the end of the meeting, addressing both new and old Leggies.

The first issue that met with heavy discussion was the approval of second-year political science major Javier Moreno’s appointment to A.S Judicial Council. In previous meetings, members of Leg Council had opposed Moreno’s appointment, citing lack of information about Moreno’s qualification. During last week’s meeting, Representative-at-Large Anita Galvan said she didn’t know enough about him.

At last night’s meeting, Moreno introduced himself during public forum and answered questions about his political experience. He said he had four years of experience in high school student government and served on the Residence Hall Association’s Review Board.

When the item came to a vote, Moreno’s appointment was turned down by a large margin. The vote was eight in favor and 13 against with two abstentions.

Leg Council moved on to pass a bill that modifies the way A.S. boards and committees can allocate honoraria. The resolution increased the limit of how much honoraria could be given to the members of a board or committee, from 5 percent of that board or committee’s quarterly budget to 8 percent of the budget. The bill also specified that the honoraria must come from lock-in fee monies.

Leg Council then passed a bill that turned the Commission on Public Safety (COPS) into an official A.S. committee. COPS is responsible for hosting town hall-style forums where students and law enforcement agencies met to talk with each other.

At the end of the meeting, Leg Council members made their final remarks of the year to each other and to future Leg Council members who were present at the meeting.

“I have enjoyed my time on this board. I’ve never been a minority before, and it’s been fun,” Off-Campus Representative Sarah Hooper said.

Representative-at-Large Fernando Ramirez took umbrage to the comment.

“Ignorant, racist, uneducated comments like that are why we are here,” Ramirez said.

A.S. President Chrystine Lawson also made her last remarks to the council.

“This board is the craziest group of people I have ever met,” Lawson said. “It has been an absolute honor to work with all of you.”