The Student Government Association, or SGA, Student Senate met for the third time this semester on Wednesday, featuring criticism, debates and multiple new bills and acts passed, including the SGA Budget Fiscal Year 2025 Bill, Vacancy Process Overall Act and The Student Fee Review Bill.
The first item on the agenda was the open forum, featuring presentations from various student organizations, all of which highlighted their activities and funding issues.
Carpool, the SGA Diversity Commission and the Aggie Recruitment Committee criticized the proposed budget for the fiscal year, alleging issues that include a lack of feedback on funding decisions and the need for a more transparent and codified process.
Environmental studies senior Luke Morrison, SGA’s finance committee chair and the bill’s presenter, said it received $114,630.77 in requests. Morrison said it granted appeals by Carpool, the Student Senate and the Diversity Commission.
There were no debates against the piece, and it passed unanimously with a 47-0 vote.
Petroleum engineering senior and Speaker of the Senate Ava Blackburn moved the Senate into discussing the first order of new business: the Presidential Investiture of General (Ret.) Mark A. Welsh Bill, or S.B. 77-04.
After communicating with the president’s office, Blackburn said the bill would be sent out to every student through email. The bill encourages the student body to participate in and attend President Welsh’s Investiture which will commemorate and officially inaugurate the 27th president of A&M. Blackburn said students can participate in the ceremony in person at Aggie Park or through a live stream.
The next order of business was the Student Body Vice President Act, or S.A. 77-03, presented by its author economics junior Riley Pritzlaff, an on-campus senator. The act was previously introduced in the Student Senate’s 76th session last year where it was passed but vetoed by former Student Body President Andrew Applewhite.
The act introduces a new elected position: Student Body Vice President, a role aiming to promote the student body’s involvement in student government. Pritzlaff said SGA must trust the student body’s ability to select an appropriate and qualified individual to represent them.
The bill was moved back to its committee for further discussion and will be debated in a future senate meeting.
Following this, agricultural economics sophomore Jackson Steele, an off-campus senator, motioned to consider the Outreach Exploration Bill, which aimed to explore new outreach opportunities beyond traditional tabling.
Multiple senators, including industrial distribution senior and Rules and Regulations Committee Chair Corbitt Armstrong, Morrison and communication junior Eli Purtell, the speaker pro tempore, argued the bill was redundant because the tasks are already part of their roles.
However, others, including Steele, Pritzlaff, political science sophomore Brendan Hurt and engineering freshman Chesney Gaines countered, emphasizing the need for innovative outreach strategies and the importance of student engagement.
“I actually thoroughly encourage everyone in here to look at the bill,” Steele said. “The bill does two things. One: It tasks external relations committee and constituency affairs committee to navigate to discuss new types of outreach. You can look at the code. That is not something they are supposed to do or that is not something they are tasked to do by the code. The second thing they do, and more importantly, is to write a report to present to the Student Senate on their recommendation for new types of outreach.”
The motion to consider the bill failed with a vote of 15 to 27.
Armstrong motioned the Student Fee Review Bill, which tasks the executive branch with creating a committee to review and examine how student fees are processed and applied. The bill was passed unanimously with a 46-0 vote.
The last motion presented during the open session was the Impeachment Process Overhaul Act. The act revises the impeachment process to clarify proceedings and violations.
The session for the Impeachment Process Overhaul Act was closed and will be debated and discussed by the committee.
