Great expectations — ASUI Senate sets goals and discusses new business in first meeting of semester

The ASUI Senate assembled for its first meeting of the spring semester Wednesday to settle old business and establish new objectives.

ASUI kicked off the meeting by wrapping up two bills from the fall that organized the committees and duties of each senator for the current semester. Both bills passed unanimously.

Afterward, the senate jumped into new business, passing another bill without dispute that provided further funding for ASUI Lobbyist Michael Ryan.

Members of ASUI went on to discuss the content of two other bills that would later face debate. The first bill proposed a second student defender be hired, so multiple students may be represented in issues of conduct simultaneously. The second bill would divide the work load and decide the compensation rate for each advocate.

ASUI Pro-Tempore Maddie Cupps said the first meeting was a success.

“I was really impressed. All of the senators came super prepared and set really good goals for themselves. I’m really excited to see the progress that we make this semester,” Cupps said.

ASUI Vice President Kelsy Briggs said the meeting was a great start to a new session and she looks forward to senate accomplishments throughout the spring.

Briggs said she wants to see the same level of productivity in both the executive and legislative side of ASUI that was put forth in the fall.

Briggs also said she would like to see continued collaboration between the two branches.

“I think that we have a lot of great individuals working here and everybody should be able to spread the wealth and make themselves available to somebody else, because we’ve got a lot of talent and you should be able to tap into that regardless of what chamber you’re in,” Briggs said.

Briggs said she expects nothing but success from the new senate and cannot wait to see the fresh perspective that they bring to ASUI during the legislative session.

ASUI President Cruz Botello said the new senate was professional in their first meeting and it left him even more optimistic for the spring.

“The incoming senators were very thorough. I feel like they were far ahead of where I was at my first meeting,” Botello said.

Olivia Heersink can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @heersinkolivia

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