Proposed bylaw would stabilize student groups’ budgets

Friday, 5/30/97 Proposed bylaw would stabilize student groups’
budgets USAC: Current council’s amendment allows only small changes
each year

By Stefanie Wong Daily Bruin Staff The end of the current
Undergraduate Student Association Council’s (USAC) administration
will likely see the development of a bylaw amendment and additions
to the Election Code. Academic Affairs Commissioner Max Espinoza is
currently developing a bylaw that he believes will help USAC
offices and student groups with their budgets. The Budget
Stabilization Amendment will allow budgets to only increase or
decrease by a certain percentage from year to year. "What’s
happened in the past is sometimes there have been dramatic cuts and
dramatic increases, and these situations have not always been good
ones for the USAC offices or student groups," Espinoza said. The
goal of the amendment is to make the budgets more "predictable,
reliable and stable, and enhance the offices and student groups’
ability to do things," Espinoza added. But concerns have been
raised by members of the council, targeting the idea that sometimes
drastic budget changes are necessary. For example, if a USAC office
or student group wants to be more ambitious than the following
year’s and therefore needs more money, the budgetary limits may
restrict their ability to meet their goals. Also, some student
groups that currently receive no money could be shut out by the new
bylaw, which would not allow them an increase in funding. Council
members are still researching the matter, and Espinoza is
specifically looking at the budgeting trends of USAC and the
student groups over the past 10 years. If the research shows that
such an amendment will be beneficial, then Espinoza will propose
the bylaw change this summer before budgets for the 1997-98
academic year are established. In addition, current USAC President
John Du is working on election code guidelines that will enable
USAC to recognize political slates. The controversy created during
this year’s student government elections over a USAC-paid
advertisement in the Daily Bruin sparked Du’s work on this issue.
"In the history of student government, we have never had any type
of guidelines that define what a slate is," Du said. "This has
caused major confusion when it comes to campaigning. "What we’re
trying to do now is to take the initiative and come up with
guidelines which will hopefully define what slates are," he added.
According to Du, most council members have not expressed opposition
to his idea and have been supportive. "I think council members see
the need to take the initiative, and it’s our responsibility to set
up guidelines that will ensure fairness and efficiency," Du said.
However, some members have expressed the need to be cautious about
the matter. "I don’t want to pass judgement on his proposal yet
because I have not seen an actual copy, but we need to be careful
when we attempt to change any of our guiding documents," Espinoza
said. The proposed guidelines have not been formalized but may be
ready to be voted on by USAC before the end of the year. Du may
also decide to not present the guidelines this year and allow the
new student council to address the issue. Many of the changes that
the outgoing council makes to the bylaws are usually done at the
end of the year, just weeks before the new USAC takes office. But
USAC has the option of making changes throughout the year, which is
what this year’s council members have done. Some of the bylaw
changes that have already been made include changes in
student-group sponsorship by USAC and modifications to the duties
of the general representatives office. The role of the general
representatives was updated to create a "more clear concept of what
the office does and the duties entail," said general representative
Michelle Gosom. The changes were made before the Spring Quarter so
that students running for the position during USAC elections would
know exactly what the position required, Gosom said. Related
Links:USAC Bylaws