Student senate confirmed senators and continued discussion of the Student Government budget at its meeting on Wednesday night.
Early in senate, Student Body President Luke Rankin took to the podium to discuss his hopes for the upcoming confirmations of his nominees to the constitutional council.
“This is a group of dedicated student leaders who are excited to serve the university of our student body,” Rankin said. “I implore the student senate to look at the potential qualifications for these nominees.”
The senate then confirmed 10 nominated senators.
Following these confirmations, various senators were appointed to committees. Speaker pro tempore Brandon Patrick and Shrey Patel moved to remove themselves from their respective positions in the environmental affairs and health and safety committees after Speaker of the Student Senate Davis Latham discouraged chairmen from serving on two committees at the same time.
Following the committee movements, Rankin, Student Body Vice President Sophie Davish and Student Body Treasurer Kate Lewis took to the podium to answer any questions from senators about the early Student Government budget, which primarily focused on allocations of office supplies and minor items to the cabinet offices in the Leadership and Service Center. There were no major points of contention for the budget.
While there was no contested legislation to be discussed yet, Raphael Ofendo Reyes explained some details of the university’s health care policy, including statistics about how many students were enrolled in the university program and the ability of students to qualify for exemptions.
Ofendo Reyes said he believed the health care policy would continue to be a contentious debate in the 111th senate, as it was during the final session of the 110th.
“I know that our committee has that as one of our goals, is to really look into the issue about how many students can afford [health care], how many student have trouble paying for it, and then kind of tailoring our actions to their needs,” Ofendo Reyes said.
Correction: A previous version of this story said the cabinet members and student senate were discussing the cabinet budget. The cabinet members and student senate were discussing the budget of Student Government as a whole.