The last Student Government Association meeting this semester was filled with debate. With one bill and one resolution being presented, many senators debated with one another to make sure that their points were heard.

Senator Jody Dahmer authored resolution 11-15-S, Resolution to Reform Special Interest Group Access to Legislative Discretionary Funding.

The resolution calls for SGA to cease distributing Legislative Discretionary Aid to individual students and/or student organizations, effective next semester.Instead, organizations can go through the Organization Aid Committee, which has already been in place.

Instead, organizations can go through the Organization Aid Committee, which has already been in place.

“I really think that this issue needs to be solved,” Dahmer said. “There needs to be a system in place for us to organize so that way every semester we don’t have student groups coming into lobby.”

Dahmer said that if they don’t address the problem then candidates running for senator could promise a kickback for votes.

“That is something that is very scary,” he said.

SGA Senator Josh Knight said that he was opposed to the resolution. He said that he felt in some cases SGA needs to step in.

“I would oppose any bill that takes away the ability to recognize special cases,”he said. “Our budget isn’t really our money, it’s the students money, we are just the facilitators of that money.”

As far as the bill helping to stop corruption, Knight said that corruption was already possible.

“You just have to trust that the senators won’t embrace that kind of corruption,” he said. “Maybe there are other things that we can do to address this but I think that a blanket ban is the wrong way to go about it.”

The Resolution failed with an 11-7 vote because it was not a two-thirds majority.Bill 15-15-S, Equality in Student Group Aid from Legislative Discretionary Funding was also presented at the meeting.

Bill 15-15-S, Equality in Student Group Aid from Legislative Discretionary Funding was also presented at the meeting.

This bill states that SGA allocates money to the organizations of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, Multicultural Journalists Student Group, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Kappa Sigma fraternity and Delta Sigma Pi.

The bill also says that in an effort to be fair to all the organizations that asked for funding since the cut-off date for Organizational Aid, the remainder of the Discretionary Funding would be divided between the groups.

Senator Elicia Tillis said she felt like this bill was not necessary.

“This is just extra,” she said. “I can’t in good consciousness say we should vote for this because they had good opportunities and they didn’t take them.”

Brian Chism, chair of the Student Affairs Committee, said that he was in favor of the bill.

“I strongly am for this bill because SGA likes to do good,” he said. “We have set a precedent that we will give something out to groups and organizations.”

The bill tied 7-7. Jay Todd Richey, speaker of the Senate, served as tiebreaker and decided on the outcome of the bill. Richey voted no, thus the bill failed.

“After my very serious consideration over the past few weeks and taking in all of the circumstances that are presented to us and looking at next year I am going to vote nay on this bill,” he said.