MSA senate adds step in legislation approval process
The bill will prevent backup of legislation.
Published Sept. 3, 2010
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Missouri Student Association Speaker Evan Wood addresses the Missouri Students Association Senate before elections on February 24, 2010 in Stotler Lounge. MSA approved a bill on Wednesday that slows down the legislation process.
The Missouri Students Association approved a bill Wednesday that changes the way legislation is introduced and passed through the Student Fee Review Committee and MSA.
“Last semester there was a communication breakdown between SFRC and MSA,” MSA Senate Speaker Evan Wood said. “Operations Committee stepped up to the plate.”
According to the bill, legislation will be passed through SFRC and MSA at a slower pace through the requirement that each bill go through a first and second reading before being voted on by the Senate at large.
In the past, all SFRC legislation would come to the MSA senate in bulk during the spring semester. SFRC would also present numerous pieces of legislation at one time, resulting in a long meeting.
“About 23 to 27 student fees would all come through in one meeting,” said Jacob Sloan, Board of Elections Commissioners Chairman and author of the bill. “It was too much to handle.”
According to the bill, MSA senators tend to leave during meetings, which impacts student voice and could misrepresent the amount of undergraduate student government support for the decisions made by SFRC.
The slowed process will give the Senate ample time to ask questions and provide feedback on the legislation, Sloan said.
Slowing the legislation process will also keep meetings within a more reasonable time span and prevent large amounts of legislation from coming through a single meeting.
Passing legislation through SFRC and MSA is a process that will benefit from being slowed down, Wood said.