The Associated Students Legislative Council discussed the context of a recent A.S. Finance Board allocation during last night’s three-hour meeting.

The council conferred about the 1993 Smith v. Regents court case, which prohibited the use of student fees in lobbying for any particular political proposition or candidate. With that in mind, the A.S. Finance Board decided not to fund CalPIRG’s “Vote Float” parade during last Monday’s meeting for fear that the organization might align itself to a certain politician or cause.

According to A.S. Executive Director Marisela Marquez, the aforementioned legislation strictly regulates the manner in which college student governments can regulate funds.

“It has been a requirement for elected students to ensure that they don’t support a candidate,” Marquez said. “You all receive honoraria so we can’t endorse candidates for that reason. Individuals in their own name can make an opinion about something, but they aren’t allowed to attach it to their office.”

Additionally, the council debated whether T-shirts produced with student funds should be manufactured by a single company in order to establish a standard rate and save money for A.S. in the long run.

Off-campus Representative Jamie Silverstein said the council’s budget gives representatives no choice but to lower its expectations for T-shirts they commission.

“We need to be sure T-shirts are made in an environmentally aware manner and ensure that they will be cost effective, but these two things go in different directions,” Silverstein said. “The group needs to decide if they want cheap prices or environmentally made T-shirts. The group needs to decide what they want out of their T-shirts.”

However, Off-campus Representative Jason Lopez said A.S. shouldn’t limit student organizations’ options by binding them to one shirt manufacturer.

“A lot of groups on campus already have a partnership with different companies,” Lopez said. “They may already get cheaper prices there and if we make them go somewhere else we might make them spend more money than they would have otherwise.”

The board eventually tabled the discussion.

Off-campus Representative Chloe Stryker said she was concerned that A.S. Finance Board is likely to run out of funds for the quarter.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Stryker said. “We could take away from winter [quarter’s unallocated fund] or just give away all our money in the next two meetings. If you know people that have events in Fall Quarter, have them come in as soon as possible because it’s going to become difficult to fund those groups.”