The Student Senate held its last meeting of the semester this Wednesday, Nov. 19, during which they elected a new speaker pro tempore and passed multiple resolutions and bills.
The meeting began with the presentation of candidates for speaker pro tempore. Former Pro Tempore Tate Banks spoke in favor of Senator Chandler Trosclair during the meeting.
“There’s a lot of things that go into it,” Banks said. “Obviously there is the clerical stuff, calling role, taking absences, printing bills, sending bills where they need to be, and that stuff is very important and I have absolutely no doubt that Chandler Trosclair will do an incredible job with that. The speaker pro temp has, to a very large degree, a lot of say over all of the internal operations of senate.”
Trosclair was sworn in as the new speaker pro tempore, replacing Senator Hannah Spurr.
The Senate also passed a variety of bills and resolutions, starting with the “Student Health Fee Cap Bill,” created in order to increase the fee cap on student health services.
“Anything that you usually go to Beutel for, that encompasses just a fraction of what Student Health Services does,” Legislative Relations Chair Josh Feldman said. “It also subsidizes a lot of the medical care you get on campus, so it provides it cheaper than if you were to go to a private physician. There are a plethora of things they do, which is why it’s extremely important that we have a higher fee cap because they would not be able to keep the level of quality and care that they currently do.”
After that bill was passed, the “21st Anniversary Bonfire Remembrance Resolution” was introduced in order to commemorate the 21-year anniversary of the Bonfire Collapse.
“Student Senate applauds the work done by Traditions Council in ensuring that the 21st anniversary Bonfire remembrance ceremony at Bonfire Memorial, which took place Nov. 18th, 2020, at 2:42 a.m., went smoothly and solemnly, especially in such a year of unexpected certainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the resolution reads.
The resolution passed with 47 in favor. Among the other pieces passed were the “Appropriated Funding Bill,” the “Election Regulations Reform Act,” the “Recognition of Local Elected Officials Resolution,” the “Nov. 3 Silver Taps Resolution” and the “GLC Re-Allocation Approval Resolution.”