USGD President Frank Smith vetoed two Senate bills earlier this month that would have changed senator attendance and office hour requirements, but the two bills are back on the agenda for Friday’s meeting where the Senate aims to override Smith’s decision.
College of Public Programs Sen. Frank Vasquez said that if enough senators support the bill, an override is possible.
“We still feel strongly about effectively using our time,” Vasquez said.
Senators are currently required to spend one hour per week canvassing at Taylor Mall, the Mercado complex or the Nursing and Health Innovation buildings. SB15 would change that requirements to two hours per month. Walter Cronkite School Sen. Alexis Kramer said this is to stop senators from “just standing around handing out business cards.”
Cronkite Sen. Erika Tuerr said SB15 would take effect as a temporary measure to allow senators to figure out how to use canvassing hours more effectively before moving the requirement back up to one hour per week.
The other bill, SB16, would strike two items from Senate bylaws — the first regarding attendance requirements for student government events and the second about attendance at outside events.
If Smith’s veto of SB16 is overturned, senators will be required to attend five USGD-sponsored events instead of the 10 hours at USGD events that is currently required. The bill would also require all senators to attend five college-sponsored events instead of the varying college-sponsored events depending on the school.
Smith’s main concern with SB16 rested with the elimination of the requirement for University College senators to host Dinner with the Dean for their constituents. Last year, Smith worked as a senator representing University College.
Smith presented his reasoning for the vetoes to the senators at their caucus meeting on Friday.
The vetoes occurred after each bill unanimously passed the Senate on Nov. 8. Smith did not attend this meeting in person, but phoned in from Mexico.
Smith explained both veto’s by citing concerns that the bills would “weaken (the) connection to the student body,” according to documents obtained by the Downtown Devil.
“I’m here to represent the students, so I’m telling them directly what their constituents are saying,” Smith said. “People having been thanking me for vetoing these bills.”
Smith voiced concerns over reducing senator’s time requirements, saying it lowered standards and created loopholes, Tuerr said.
However, Vasquez said the overall number of hours that the senators would be required to be available to the public wouldn’t change. He said the modification would allow for a more effective use of that time by relaxing bylaws that dictate where the time must be spent.
Grammatical errors and misspellings in Smith’s veto explanation letters ruffled a few feathers among the senators, Tuerr said.
“It seemed rushed,” she said. “Here we are taking the time to listen to his justification statement, and it just seemed sloppy.”
The language Smith used also raised concerns among the senators. The first explanation called SB15 “an embarrassment” with the second describing SB16 as “a shame,” according to the veto explanation documents.
“He was, in a nutshell, putting us down,” Tuerr said.
Contact the reporter at noah.b.briggs@asu.edu
