The Associated Students - of the - University of Washington

The Associated Students - of the - University of Washington ASUW Student Senate Steering Committee Session XX November 15th, 2013 HUB 121H Meeting Room Call to Order: 2:32 p.m. Isaac calls the meeting to order at 2:32 p.m. I. Attendance: Isaac Prevost- Student Senate Speaker Kevin Shotwell- GPSS Liaison (proxy for Forrest Taylor) Michael Zangl- Student Senate Vice Speaker Kanokbhorn Sara- On Campus Student Life Committee Chair Brady Begin- Off Campus Student Life Committee Chair Brigit Rossbach- Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee Chair Russell Wiita- Oversight Committee Chair Amber Amin- Chair of POM COM Rachel Frank-General Affairs Committee Chair Evelina Vaisvillaite- Director of Policy and Procedures Shivani Changela- Director of Community Relations Amanda Humphries- Student Senate Membership Coordinator Kevin Celustka- Student Senate Clerk II. Approval of the Steering Agenda Isaac Prevost calls for additions, deletions, or modification. Michael Zangl asks if Rene will be here, and moves to wait for Rene to come for approving the minutes. 1

Isaac Prevost says that Rene already gave us her opinion. She hasn t specifically asked we not approve the minutes without her. Russell Wiita moves to do Advisors Report when Rene gets here The motion carries with no objections. Kevin Shotwell moves to reconsider the May 28 th minutes as item 9. Isaac Prevost says they're already currently under minutes approval Kevin Shotwell says they have to be separate to reconsider The motion carries with no objections. No further additions, deletions, or modifications. Russell Wiita moves to approve. The motion carries with no objections. III. Speakers Report Isaac Prevost encourages that we not set adjournment time. He thinks that we could either arrange to adjourn at 7 or not at all. For the attendance vote, if the agenda says 7:30, it s not actually voting to adjourn. If the agenda says we ll leave at 7:30, beyond that the vote's only for adjournment. If the motion to adjourn fails, we will still adjourn. Rachel Frank says that last week the email said 5-7. If the title says Senate will adjourn at 7:30. We should give people a heads up. Isaac Prevost adds that we will be changing rooms for winter quarter as part of the OA discussed, to move to a more accessible senate room. Potentially in the HUB, but if anyone has any opinion they'll be discussing it more in the coming week. He says they're not mandated to do so, but Gowen has had a few problems. Brady Begin asks if the Senate is for sure moving, or only if a room can be found? 2

Isaac Prevost responds that if nothing is available we ll stay in Gowen. Russell Wiita asks if there s stadium seating available in the HUB? Isaac Prevost says it s not ideal, but there's potential in Architecture 147. Kevin Shotwell asks if there are any specific individuals not able to access Gowen. Isaac Prevost says one person asked, but eventually didn t become a senator. Rachel Frank thinks that it s possible that people might not register based on meeting Gowen. Isaac Prevost says ideally we would address the problem before it s an issue. IV. Vice Speaker s Report Rene Singleton asks if senators ever go out on the road to give other groups information about what the group does. She has a conference phone call at 3, to set up a new web program, so she will have to leave early. She says that RSOs are interested in Senate, and if they want to send something for Senate on the Road, they d be happy to post it to the RSO website. Isaac Prevost thanks Rene. IV. Vice Speaker s Report Michael Zangl The board approved legislative agenda. R-20-8 was referred back to the Senate floor without amendments. R-20-6 was also approved. They discussed the process of Senate orders and Board and Senate relations. Rachel Frank asks about the vote about R-20-8 3

Michael Zangl says 7-0-2. V. Membership Director s Report Amanda Humphries is going to assign senators automatically this weekend to committees. She s trying to figure out where people decided to go, as it has become a little complicated. She says that we ve had a lot of attendance fraud and some people have never shown up but are always voting. They are abusing the proxy idea. It s become an issue, so she s thought about eliminating the proxies. People are not reporting them and some people are proxying to multiple people. There s also an issue with the Net-IDs. She thinks proxies have presented more problems than they ve created solutions during the last few years. Rachel Frank doesn t think it s fair to remove a constituency s vote because a senator has to miss a week. Amanda Humphries says it s simply a way to solve the bigger issue. Brady Begin contributes that he doesn t think we should be doing anything quickly or rashly. He thinks that if they can figure out a better way to enforce the program accurately that would be better. He believes the one time he proxied in the past, there was a more extensive process than the one that exists today. Amanda Humphries says it will take some time. She wants to float a few ideas. Enforcement is difficult. She says potentially the membership coordinator could suspend a vote if she s suspicious of fraud. She has noticed some weird trends, which brought her attention to it. 4

Kevin Shotwell agrees with Mandy, he asks the committee carefully consider allowing proxies. There are typically very few official proxies, but a large number of illegal proxies. This raises the issues that firstly it violates the principle of one-person one vote. Even when instructions are given to a proxy in advance, it results in an unfair outcome to the person speaking on the floor. He would say that he has trouble to seeing the benefit of proxies. Rachel Frank says that considering there are usually only 1-3 each week, couldn t the Senate just require an email in advance? Other than attendance they could vote as abstention. Russell Wiita says that often substantial changes are made to legislation during the Senate meetings. He thinks that sometimes it s difficult for prxies to decide how to vote in a case such as last week s meeting. He thinks it s abused more than it s used appropriately. If it had to be in black and white he would say that proxies should not be allowed. Brigit Rossbach adds that someone could bring up a point that would persuade the non-present member. It would also be extremely difficult to enforce either method correctly, with or without proxies. Kevin Shotwell raises the point that typically there are only proxies in corporate meetings. It s foreign to a representative body when one is expected to react to what s said on the floor. If proxies were removed, however, the Senate would have to make special provision for protected seats. Rachel Frank says in terms of changing resolutions, in a lot of these other groups, like RHSA, they come in ready with whatever votes that their halls are making. It s wrong to 5

say that we can t have a limited proxy system. She suggests a more strict policy on proxies. Amanda Humphries likes Rachel s point, and responds that her goal is to make sure we re being more accountable to these constituents. The argument has previously come up about taking clickers home, which is part of her issue. There are some things that need to be worked on. Rachel Frank argues her point, saying that often some people come in with a definite yes vote. Amanda Humphries acknowledges the point, and states she s simply trying to focus on accurately representing all constituents. She doesn't want senators to put the title on their resume and not represent their constituents at all. Isaac Prevost says no action will be taken without further discussion. VI. COMMITTEE REPORTS Brigit Rossbach says that AAA discussed the 'Free Speech Zone' legislation; they passed it favorably out of committee 17-0-5 with two amendments. Kanokbhorn Saha says that they elected Jessa Cameron as Vice Chair, and two people brought up independent legislation. Brady Begin says they finally had quorum, and they elected Hailey badger as Vice Chair. They also discussed transportation. Rachel Frank says they referred R-20-2 out with one amendment. 6

Amber Amin talked about a senate outing for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, potentially a movie showing in Gowen after the meeting. They suggested Monsters University. Rachel Frank says that they need to buy the rights to show a movie. Amber Amin asks does it matter if it s public or private? Kanokbhorn Saha says they would have to be your friends. Isaac Prevost says we ll look into it. Russell Wiita says that oversight elected 3 representatives for Officer Review Committee. There are 3 people interested and 3 available positions, so it worked out well. They talked about Vice Chair and he took down names for those interested. They ll do elections next week, and they re working on legislation, and liaison review forms. Rachel Frank asks if liaison emails have gone out? Russell Wiita says no. Amber Amin asks if people are using the forms for committee legislation review? Isaac Prevost says he thinks not. VII. Approval of the November 19 th, 2013 Senate Agenda Michael Zangl moves to add R-20-8 to beginning of Old Business. Russell Wiita asks if it would be it s own item under orders of the day. Michael Zangl says it s qualifies as unfinished business. The motion carries with no objections. It s now the first item of old business. Kevin Shotwell moves to remove Committee Meetings and Old Business from under Orders of the Day, and leave R-20-8 as the only order of the day. 7

Michael Zangl clarifies Orders of the Day would be item 7, and Old Business would become item 8? Isaac Prevost confirms. The motion carries with no objections. Russell Wiita asks if R-20-2 and R-20-4 are out of community? Isaac Prevost says yes. No further additions, deletions, or modifications. Russel Wiita moves to approve the agenda. The motion carries with no objections. VIII. Approval of the Minutes Isaac Prevost clarifies that putting the election results in the May 28th minutes was undone. He says that Steering is now looking at current minutes. The discussion last week was whether or not we should add them to new minutes with an explanation. Russell Wiita says that we only reconsidered the vote on May 28 th minutes. Isaac Prevost says that now last week's Steering and Senate minutes as well as the May 28 th minutes and election results are all under review. Mandy Humphries moves to include the elections results in the most recent senate minutes, with a note explaining their presence. Objection. Amanda Humphries says she made a mistake last week, and thinks Steering should respect the opinion of its advisor. She wants to add the election results to the November 12 th minutes with an explanation. We ve already heard these arguments several times. 8

Kevin Shotwell argues that adding voting records to previous records would be false and misleading. The last consensus to include them in last years minutes would be appropriate. Russell Wiita moves to add them to Steering minutes instead. Mandy Humphries accepts the resolution as friendly. Objection. Withdrawn. Rachel Frank moves to vote on the friendly amendment. 8-1-4. The amendment has been adopted to move it to the November 8 th Steering minutes. Russell Wiita moves to vote. 7-1-5. The motion has been approved. Michael Zangl moves to approve the standing minutes with amendments. Objection. Michael Zangl speaks to his motion, saying there were a few uncontroversial mistakes, but no substantial changes. Russell Wiita wants to clarify that this is only these corrections, and withdraws his objection. The motion carries with no objection. The November 12 th and 8 th minutes have been approved. IX. APPROVAL OF MAY 28 th MINUTES Amanda Humphries moves to approve the minutes. Seconded. 9

Kevin Shotwell asks if a bare motion would improve the minutes in their previous form? Amanda Humphries withdraws her motion, moving to approve the may 28 th minutes in their current status without the election results, as originally submitted. Objection. Kevin Shotwell requests a roll call vote on the May 28 th minutes. Rachel Frank objects, objection withdrawn. Isaac Prevost conducts a roll call vote. Kevin Shotwell explains that he wants each vote on the minutes Kevin Shotwell says nay, Michael Zangl abstains, Brigit Rossbach abstains, Kanokbhorn Saha abstains, Evelina Vaisvillaite abstains, Brady Begin aye, Shivani Changela abstains, Rachel Frank aye, Amber Amin aye, Russell Wiita aye, Amanda Humphries abstains. 5-1-7. The May 28 th minutes are approved. X. OA 20-2, The Omnibus Bylaws and Rules Update Act of 2013 Evelina Vaisvillaite asks for a recap of last week s discussion. Kevin Shotwell summarizes the previous week's discussion. They decided they should remove controversial items. They took out increasing percentage required for roll call votes, and requiring committee reports to be read on the floor. Evelina Vaisvillaite says she knows that there was discussion on this last year, and it s something she would yield to Rene about, but she s gone. 10

Michael Zangl says that Rene told Steering that it couldn t delegate a Board Member s vote. He says they still need to look into it, but it s unusual for anyone to delegate how a Board Member can vote. Evelina Vaisvillaite is hesitant to give a concrete answer. Russel Wiita thinks that because Steering might not be a subcommittee of Senate, but all of its members have a vote in Senate, while not all board members have a vote, by instinct, why should people who don t have a vote in Senate have a vote here? He thinks they should either give the board members both votes, or take away both votes. He moves to strike this aspect out of the Omnibus. Objection. Russell Wiita thought that steering was removing controversial items. Kevin Shotwell says that this raises the bigger issue of whether Steering should consider constitutional amendments. He suggests a friendly amendment to not refer constitutional amendments to Steering. Rachel Frank moves to vote. Russell Wiita clarifies this removes the clause about board members vote, and constitutional amendments being referred to steering. 6-1-6, the amendment is adopted. Amanda Humphries asks about a change regarding the Membership Coordinator's responsibilities. Rachel Frank moves to amend the clause, which allows assignment to any committee to 'any of the existing committees'. Objection. 11

Rachel Frank says she doesn't want to create another reason to have an Omnibus act next year. Kevin Shotwell says that saying all committees would include any special committees. Rachel Frank says that she doesn't understand why the Membership Coordinator couldn't officially delegate, right now those in Steering is the one who makes an attendance sheet. Amanda Humphries says that when she appointed the other members as chairs, that was her appointing steering. She asks what was Senator Alfred Nabarrete's point in the past? Was it abused? Kevin Shotwell says his concern was abuse potential. The language is that right now the membership coordinator can appoint senators to standard committees, the amendment would limit it to legislative and non Rachel Frank withdraws her amendment. No objections. Russell Wiita asks if Mandy moved to remove the clause. Amanda Humphries says no. Amanda Humphries asks about line 20, was that the conversation held last year? Kevin Shotwell says that the clerk can t be removed, but right now the Speaker and Vice Speaker can be removed. Amanda Humphries agrees. She asks if Michael had all amendments made that he intended? Rachel Frank asks if when the OA is brought to the floor, would someone make a powerpoint to explain it to the Senators? Isaac Prevost says yes. 12

Kevin Shotwell asks how extensive should the powerpoint be? Amanda Humphries asks if it would go to the floor? Isaac Prevost says no. Kevin Shotwell asks if he should make it section by section. Isaac Prevost agrees. Kevin Shotwell moves to amend line 551, adding clause D: he proceeds to read the clause. Rachel Frank adds friendly amendment of 30 seconds of debate each. Kevin Shotwell accepts the friendly amendment. He says this supersedes Robert s rules of order. The motion to adjourn last night was rejected by the majority of the senate. The Senate shouldn t have gone on past that point, because a 2/3 majority should be required to suspend the rules. No objection, the amendment is adopted. Russell Wiita moves to move the OA to second readings. The motion carries with no objection, second readings will be held next week. Russell Wiita clarifies the Powerpoint will be made not to confuse the body. The point of approaching it this way is to pass it unanimously to the floor, so the floor can see that Steering approves of this. He hopes that through this process everyone can vote yes. X. OA 20-3 Amanda Humphries asks if anyone has read this. Kevin Shotwell says that he and senator Taylor have read it. Russell Wiita moves to adjourn. 13

Objection. Russell Wiita says that most people haven t read the Organic Act. Brady Begin proposes friendly amendment to adjourn with announcements. Not friendly. Amanda Humphries asks what his announcement is. Brady Begin responds the legislative reception is Monday. Be aware. Vote to adjourn. 8-1-4 Adjourned: 3:29 p.m. Minutes Prepared by Kevin Celustka Student Senate Clerk 14