The 75th Senate discussed repairing relations between Associated Students entities at its Oct. 9 meeting, as well as several bills including one on establishing more clear requisition guidelines and a new senate strategic vision plan. The senate also approved over 40 position appointments for various Boards, Committees and Units and received reports from the elections board chair and executives.
Many of the bills discussed propose structural changes to Associated Students (A.S.) bylaws in an attempt to improve the functioning of A.S. entities and focus the goals of the senate on specific tangible tasks.
Wesley Haver / Daily Nexus
New updates to the elections code were announced by Caleb Hanson, third-year political science major and chair of the elections board. Hanson said a policy passed allowing a recall election to occur within A.S. if a petition garners the required number of signatures — 10% of the total number of people that voted for them for executives, and 50% plus one person of the people who voted in their constituency for senators — leaving the senate no authority over the action.
This marks a change from previous election code policies which required a two-thirds majority Senate vote to hold a special recall election. Last spring the recall petition of then A.S. President Tessa Veksler racked up 844 signatures but did not make it to a special recall election after falling short of the ratification threshold in an April 10 senate vote.
In addition to this, the elections board is working with senators to find ways to increase voter turnout through media campaigns and to accommodate religious holidays such as Passover and Ramadan into their elections code guidelines.
The senate tabled multiple bills aiming to restructure policies and communication within the senate for one week in order to make adjustments and add further research. All of the bills will be tabled until the Oct. 16 senate meeting.
Among these bills was “A Bill To Reform and Repair Senate and BCU Relations,” which aims to “give BCUs greater autonomy and rectify the historical tension and mistrust between BCUs and elected officials.”
“A Bill to Establish Clear Guidelines for AS Requisition Submissions” was also tabled, which essentially creates a clause giving organizations 30 days to fix mistakes in their financial requisition forms once notified of the error. Failure to meet this deadline may lead to canceled requisitions, up to the discretion of the associate director of finance and budget and chair of the A.S. Finance Board.
The bill also restricts the timeframe in which requisition forms must be submitted, as requisition requests will only be accepted in the quarter that the expenses incurred, except for events in the last three weeks of the quarter which will be granted an extra two weeks after the quarter ends.
Additionally the senate discussed “A Bill To Introduce the Annual Senate Strategic Vision Plan,” which aims to change A.S. bylaws and establish a “practical and time-based legislative agenda” for the senate to create tangible and beneficial change for the student body during their term, according to the bill.
In the last of the proposed structural changes, Senators Dan Siddiqui, Alexa Butler and Leiya Kadah gave a presentation of their strategic vision plan, which outlines four standing committees — advocacy, liaison, finance and outreach — temporary committees for financial transparency and to establish the Black empowerment task force and several administrative committees.
Interval Vice President and fourth-year art major Açucar Pinto was absent from their role as chair, leaving third-year political science and philosophy double major and First Senate Pro-Tempore Siddiqui to chair the meeting. The absence follows a boycott of the Senate’s first meeting of the quarter on Oct. 2 in solidarity with Jewish students after Pinto denied requests to change the meeting date to accommodate the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah.
Pinto made a Zoom appearance at the meeting to deliver their executive report in which they explained their absence as a result of grieving a relative and a temporary physical disability. They said their office is currently working to address the boycott of the week one senate meeting.
“I wanted to address the fact that my office, and most currently myself, have been exceptionally dedicated to addressing a lot of the harms by the boycott and the meeting last week, and that is what is most important to me right now. So that is what my office is doing,” Pinto said.
Pinto said specific harm reduction measures include collaboration with the Restorative Justice Program and Counseling & Psychological Services to “facilitate conversation,” in a statement to the Nexus.
In light of the boycott, Assistant Dean & Director of the Office of Student Conduct, Joaquin Becerra, informed the Senate of a restorative justice process they may elect to undergo to establish a “shared understanding of what happened” and “move forward” as a group.
“I’m coming here today through the restorative program, as restorative justice or restorative practices [can] be used in a way to build and enhance community and to really understand and enhance communication,” Becerra said. “This in no way is me coming into the space in some sort of authoritative fashion … I come in a neutral fashion to engage the space and to offer my services as a restorative justice facilitator.”
Owen Meyers, fourth-year history of public policy and law major and external vice president for local affairs, also delivered his executive report. He discussed the expansion of resources for the Pardall Center and University of California Isla Vista programs, Halloween events such as an Isla Vista Park and Recreation District collaboration and a “know your rights” workshop, as well as an upcoming vote registration drive, among other initiatives.
Meyers was able to confirm after talks with Isla Vista Foot Patrol that the restorative justice program will not be suspended during Halloween weekends as seen during Deltopia 2024, addressing the concerns of some senators. He plans to host a Halloween town hall with local law enforcement to provide clarity to students about Halloween restrictions in I.V.
“As for my plans for Halloween, I am continuing the conventional Halloween town hall. And I will have I.V. Foot Patrol, [University of California Police Department] there, hopefully Alcohol & Drug Program from UCSB there and also hopefully a representative from the district supervisor’s office,” Meyers said.
Over 40 position appointments were voted on and approved by the senate after initial deliberations regarding the appointment of third-year computer science major Ephraim Shalunov for Jewish commission chair. Shalunov was previously the first president pro-tempore for the 74th Senate.
In the first-ever unofficial appointment hearing in the history of A.S., senators questioned Shalunov about his peronal history in A.S. and his plans for the Jewish commission. Shortly after, however, the hearing was deemed in violation of the Brown Act, Title VI, the Civil Rights Act, UCSB Student Conduct Code and A.S. Standing Policies and Procedures, A.S. Executive Director Marisela Márquez said. The hearing was struck from the official senate record.
A version of this article appeared on p. 1 of the Oct. 17, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.
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