SGB omnibus bill proposes changes to referendum and allocation processes

A new Student Government Board bill could bring changes to future student elections and governance.

SGB introduced an omnibus bill on April 1 that proposes amendments to the procedures for referendums and allocations and to the process of SGB Assembly remuneration for student organizations if it passes on Tuesday.

The bill as proposed will allow referendums to be held outside of SGB’s election cycle, update the allocations process to tighten the requirements for student organizations requesting honorarium funding and establish paths for student leaders to request additional stipends.

SGB Vice President Lauren Rubovitz emphasized the importance of the bill’s change to the referendum process. She also said the “only way” to change the SGB constitution is by constitutional amendment proposed via referendum.

“We’re trying to make it so the elections committee can poll the student body more often,” Rubovitz said. “There’s nothing in our Constitution that says that you can’t have referendums outside of Election Day.”

Judicial Chair Ramsey Smith said the omnibus bill will leave the existing referendum procedures unchanged but will allow them to take place more often. Currently, the Judicial Committee oversees referendums, with all student organizations free to submit referendum questions.

“The line [in the code] being altered adds clarity to an item that implies referendums are only held on the same day as board elections,” Smith said. “The line being altered in the omnibus bill changes nothing about referenda or the referendum process.”

The proposed bill also lowers the allocations cap for student organizations seeking funding for honoraria events, where guest speakers or performers are compensated for their participation, to $15,000 from the current $25,000 limit. 

Allocations Chair Nicole Zheng said she feels the lower number still “wouldn’t cut that many costs” for SGB, which has been facing difficulties surrounding allocations in the past year.

“Looking specifically at the honorary request that we voted to fund this year, we found that all but one or two were below $15,000,” Zheng said. “This is why the committee felt comfortable with that proposed number.”

Zheng said the proposed bill will also “adjust the governance code’s language” to clarify that future honorarium allocations can only be granted to student organizations holding on-campus activities due to the higher costs of off-campus events.

“We recognize that off-campus events tend to be events that affect the people who are going more strongly than the people who don’t attend,” Zheng said. “But with that, we also must recognize there’s a higher cost.”

Zheng said that while the honorarium cap revision has generated debate among student organizations, she noted that the final decision is up to the board.

“This is an area where there’s a lot of input from student groups on how they feel about this cap,” Zheng said. “The committee voted on the bill and passed it unanimously, but the bill still has to go to board.”

The bill will also codify the board’s mutually understood policy that allocations funds are only meant for students who pay the student activities fee. Students enrolled only in the College of General Studies do not pay the fee.

“Funding is meant to be used towards students who pay the student activities fee and not towards students that don’t pay,” Zheng said. “It’s clarifying something that’s implicitly understood by the board.”

The final section of the bill aims to update the remunerations process for student organization leaders in the SGB Assembly, which currently consists of 14 student organizations. Student leaders are able them to request monetary stipends for their participation. The bill seeks to establish “a process for remunerations petitions,” according to Rubovitz. 

“[The bill is] just establishing how many people need to vote for a recommendation to go through, establishing that it will be reconsidered every three years, any statement, position,” Rubovitz said. “Every organization in assembly has presidents with stipends, and some even have vice presidents with stipends right now.”

Rubovitz stressed the bill’s importance in ensuring a smooth transition of power and student expectations from year to year.

“With each year, there are things that you want to work out,” Rubovitz said. “Especially starting with a whole new constitution and governing code [for next year].”