House close to passing 'student curator' bill
Published April 19, 2005
On Monday a bill that would grant voting rights to the student representative to the UM system the Board of Curators moved one step closer to passing.
The Missouri House of Representatives voted almost unanimously to tweak language of House Bill 440, which grants voting powers to the student representative to governing boards at Southwest Missouri State University, Truman State University, and all UM system schools.
The vote Monday only perfected the language for the bill. It still has to be read a third time and voted on. The bill is on the calendar for House bills for its third reading today.
Once perfected, amendments cannot be added to the bill during further debate.
Charles Stadtlander, chief lobbyist for the bill for the Associated Students of the University of Missouri, said he was pleased with the vote.
"This is a huge vote of support from the House," Stadtlander said. "It shows the House of Representatives strongly backs students."
The Senate sponsor of the bill, Sen. Kevin Engler, R-Farmington, said though the issue enjoys wide support, it still has a few hurdles to clear.
He said a committee vote would be one of the bill's major hurdles.
"We're hoping to get it out of the Senate committee," Engler said. "If it comes out, I feel real good about it. We'll be arguing strongly for it."
The Senate Education Committee held a hearing on the issue in early March but never voted to send the bill to the Senate floor.
Engler said time constraints are a concern because the Senate still has to work on the budget and there are only a few weeks left in the session.
Another concern would be if the Senate added amendments and forced the bill to go to a conference committee to iron out differences.
Stadtlander said he does not expect the Senate to make any changes to the bill if it comes up for debate.
