Legislation

The 84th session of the senate of the Associated Students of the University of Nevada moved quickly through several pieces of legislation to amend parts of the Statutes of the Associated Students. The session kicked off with an Act to Amend the Tom Davies Book Scholarship, introduced by Sen. Zachary Jacoby of the College of Liberal Arts. The Tom Davies Book Scholarship states that the scholarship must specifically be used for a student’s purchase of textbooks. However, ASUN and the Office of Financial Aid do not have any way to enforce the rule that the scholarship must only be used for textbooks. Since the scholarship lowers a student’s tuition, the amendment would change the SAS to describe the scholarship as just the Tom Davies Book Scholarship and would remove the condition that the scholarship must only be used for textbooks. The legislation passed without discussion with unanimous support.

The next piece of legislation the senators heard was an Act to Amend the Compensation Limits for Senators. The amendment, proposed by Sen. Hayden Smith of the College of Business, would put a time frame on the compensation amounts senators receive for holding their positions. The amended bill in the SAS would read, “Senator: The aggregate amount of equivalent to the cost of six undergraduate credit-hours per semester at the university.” The bill would not change the amount of compensation the senators receive but instead would enforce the rule that the senators get six undergraduate credits paid for each semester. The bill passed with unanimous support.

Sen. Trenton Jackson, College of Business, introduced a bill to amend Turbo Vote in the SAS. Jackson proposed that the Turbo Vote section of the SAS be amended to say, “Through the use of student voter initiatives, such as Turbo Vote, Nevada students will be more involved within local politics and thus have a larger influence on our surrounding area.” By saying “student voter initiatives” instead of only “Turbo Vote,” the SAS would allow future members of ASUN to use voter initiatives other than Turbo Vote. The bill passed with unanimous support.

S.B. 84 was next in line to be amended by changing the SAS to read “Inkblot Marketing” instead of “Inkblot Promotions” and changing the SAS from referring to Inkblot’s director of marketing as creative director. The bill passed with unanimous support.

The last piece of legislation the senate heard was an Act to Amend the Mahmoud “Mike” Hendi Public Service Award. The award recognizes students who have exhibited community spirit and a dedication to public service. Since the Office of Financial Aid is responsible for distributing the money from the award, the service award is technically a scholarship. Sen. Jacoby introduced the amendment by saying the term “award” does not accurately represent the scholarship, and in order for it to be recorded and distributed accurately, the words in the bill must be changed from “award” to “scholarship.” The amendment passed with unanimous support.