Amendment to broaden legislation sponsorship passes in special election

By Rishab Ramapriyan     4/16/19 11:59pm

Students voted to pass a constitutional amendment in a referendum that will now allow any student to sponsor Student Association legislation.

A total of 1,098 students voted in a special election held April 8-12; 1,039 (95 percent) voted in favor of passing the amendment. The SA constitution requires one-fifth of undergraduate students to vote and two-thirds of students to vote in favor for a constitutional amendment to pass. 

Senate had voted at its meeting on March 18 to pass the constitutional amendment, which amends the SA Constitution sponsorship clause to allow any student to sponsor and introduce legislation as long as they have substantially contributed to its text. The amendment was introduced by Nick Jerge, the former SA parliamentarian, and Grace Wickerson, the SA president .  

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“As a parliamentarian, I do believe that it’s completely rational to remove the requirement that legislation has to be sponsored by at least one voting member of [SA] Senate,” Jerge, a Sid Richardson College sophomore, said at the March 4 SA Senate meeting. “People who do have ideas in mind should be able to put them forward. This lowers the barrier for students to get involved in [SA] Senate.”

At the March 18 meeting, the SA Senate also voted to deem the amendment time-sensitive so that a special election could be held this semester. 

Jerge said that the constitutional amendment took effect immediately after its passage. Jerge said that students can review the resources on the SA website or contact SA Parliamentarian Freddy Cavallaro to submit legislation. 

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