Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Is Our Senators Learning: Beyond the Senate's Power
The Senate's University Affairs Committee today is continuing its discussion on President Reilly's proposed SAFE (Student Aid for Emergencies) program. The program, proposed in Reilly's budget for fiscal year 2010, seeks to provide support for students in financial emergencies. The proposal is below.
ASUN FY 2010 Proposed Budget
The Senate is considering companion legislation (sponsored by Senator Christine Lemon [College of Science]) presumably to authorize the program. This is an excellent step, but the legislation suffers from several problems. Read more to find out how.
The Senate Cannot Legislate Beyond Its Jurisdiction
The ASUN Constitution, in Article II, section 3(b)(3), states that the "Senate shall not...[c]reate laws that presume binding authority beyond the jurisdiction of the Associated Students." This basically means that the Senate cannot legislate on things beyond ASUN. On this basis, the SAFE bill is unconstitutional.
Section 3 establishes the program as an ASUN service. Section 4 of the bill is where the problems are. Subsection (a)(1) states that "The SAFE program shall be administered by the Coordinator of Student Advocacy, who shall deliver monthly written reports to the ASUN President." This bill attempts to direct a University administrator, who is clearly beyond the jurisdiction of ASUN and the Senate's ability to direct, to run the program.
Subsection (a)(2) of section 3 further states that the SAFE administrator "shall determine the number of meal swipes and/or the duration of stay for students participating in the program." Again, this directory and mandatory language is beyond the Senate's ability to mandate and legislate.
Section 3(b) states that meals "shall be provided by Office of Residential Life, Housing, and Food Services." Now the Senate attempts to direct entire University departments what to do. Ah, but this isn't even the worst of it.
Section 3(c) states that "Super 8 Motel located at 1651 N. Virginia Street shall accommodate the students in need of shelter who are participating in the SAFE program." Apparently the Senate of the Associated Students now has the power to tell private businesses what to do.
The program looks like a good idea. But the Senate's legislation needs a lot of work. The bill needs to spell out ASUN's role in this program. Reilly's budget states that ASUN would provide $10,000 to the program, but the proposal on the SAFE program makes no mention of cost. This would be a good thing to sort out. By contributing to SAFE, what future liabilities and obligations does this commit ASUN to?
If the only thing ASUN is doing is providing some financing, that's all the bill really need to say. It's clear from both the proposal and ASUN's bill that ASUN is not administering the program. If that's the case, and there is no obligation on ASUN's part to providing anything more than funding, then that's all the bill need to do: authorize the transfer of funds to this program. If ASUN is actually administering the program, then the bill should spell that out.
Bottom line: it is unclear, from both Reilly's proposal and Senator Lemon's bill, what role ASUN plays in this program. The Senate should get answers to those questions before it spends any money on this program. We hope the Committee does its job and seriously scrutinize this piece of legislation and the underlying program.
Budget Bill Problems
The Senate tomorrow will consider the ASUN's budget for the upcoming fiscal year. (This bill many problems, which we will discuss in a future post.) But for now, the line item for the SAFE program should raise some eyebrows (link). This program hasn't been authorized yet. Until it has been, it is not legal for the line item to appear in the budget.
If this is a Senator's bill, why didn't it get a first reading?
The Senate's rules (Rule XV) provide that senators may introduce legislation. The bill bears the name of an individual senator, indicating that it was introduced for consideration by that senator. So why didn't this bill get a first reading in the Senate? Committees can report original legislation (bypassing the first reading step) directly to the Senate, but they would carry an indication that it was not introduced. So which is it supposed to be? And why isn't the Speaker making sure the rules are being taught and followed?
By the way...
Where is the "Joe Crowley Student Presidents Conference Room"? (Agenda) Is that a building? A room? I know what was meant, but this could be yet another violation of the Open Meeting Law in the works.
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So......what happened to S.B. 77-3? Are they trying to approve this horrendus budgeet in one fell swoop now? :\
ReplyDeleteI remember looking at this SAFE bill a couple weeks ago and thinking the same things mentioned in this post. Is this a program by the Office of Student Advocacy that ASUN is helping to fund? Or is it an ASUN program that they are trying to pass off on someone else? And I agree, isn't it a little presumptious to include a line item for something that technically does not exist yet?
ReplyDeleteFor the "By the Way..." section:
ReplyDeleteReally? Anyone who can read knows what is meant. Someone forgot to type the word "Union." I'm sure college students and administrators have the common sense to figure it out, and it isn't even that misleading. Some NOML criticism has been legit, but this one is just silly. Tell them to fix it before approval if it really bothers you, and move on. I'm sure there are senators gracious enough to correct typos before a ridiculous judicial case pops up...
Hahahaha. Has ASUN completely lost it? I can't stop laughing. WTF Eli? We need soup lines at the JCU as well. Does Starbucks take food stamps? If you're having a "financial emergency" of this magnitude maybe you ought not be in school.
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