The SBA Constitution & By-Laws Committee has put forth 1) a proposal to amend the SBA Constitution and 2) a proposal to amend the SBA By-Laws.

1) The proposal to amend the SBA Constitution would increase the “SBA Fee” that each member of the Student Body pays to the Business Office every semester for which they are enrolled. Specifically, this proposal would raise the SBA Fee from $50 per semester to $75 per semester. For context, the SBA Fee has remained at $50 since before 2008. Adjusting only for inflation, this increase would keep the SBA Fee at virtually the same cost to every member of the Student Body per semester ($50 in 2008 dollars is equivalent to $73.06 in 2024 dollars, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics). Also, this proposal would remove the more lenient requirements for amending the SBA Fee, and the process to amend the SBA Fee going forward would need to meet the same, stricter requirements of any other SBA Constitutional Amendment (2/3rds vote of your Class Representatives, followed by a 50.1% vote of the Student Body). The SBA Constitution & By-Laws Committee believes this change will keep the funding of your campus activities at pace with cost. In other words, the SBA would be able to approve even more events on campus, because the funding available for your campus events would be keeping pace with the cost of inflation.

Your Legislative Council Class Representatives will be voting on this proposal on Tuesday, March 19th at 12:00pm in the F&R Courtroom. This meeting is open to any member of the Student Body who has a question about the proposal! For this proposal to be approved by the SBA, 2/3rds of your Class Representatives must vote in support. If the proposal is approved by the SBA, the changes would head to a vote of the Student Body via Engage. The vote of the Student Body would be held between April 2nd and April 5th (during the Spring Elections). For the proposal to be approved by the Student Body, a simple majority (50.1%) of participating voters must vote in support. If the proposal is approved by the Student Body, as well as by the SBA, the changes would take effect at the beginning of the Fall 2024 Academic Semester.

2) The proposal to amend the SBA By-Laws would create a uniform process for your Class Representatives to follow when hearing motions to approve new Student Organizations and motions to approve new Appropriations. Essentially, this proposal would enshrine a Presentation Period (whereby speakers will have up to 2:00 minutes to present their request to SBA), a Question-and-Answer Period (whereby 3 to 6 Class Representatives will each have up to 30 seconds to ask a question and the speaker will have up to 60 seconds to answer each raised question), a Debate Period (whereby 4 to 8 Class Representatives will each have up to 90 seconds to make debate with their fellow Class Representatives), and a Voting Period (whereby the motion must either be voted upon or be tabled to a subsequent meeting). The SBA Legislative Council convenes every other week for 1 hour, so the SBA Constitution & By-Laws Committee believes this change would effectively balance fairness and efficiency. In other words, a diversity of opinion will be heard in a manner that is respectful of the efficiency in which your membership dues are dispersed to your campus organizations. 

Your Legislative Council Class Representatives will be voting on this proposal on Tuesday, April 2nd at 5:00pm in the F&R Courtroom. This meeting is open to any member of the Student Body who has a question about the proposal! For this proposal to be approved by the SBA, 2/3rds of your Class Representatives must vote in support. If the proposal is approved by the SBA, the changes would take effect at the beginning of the Fall 2024 Academic Semester.

If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Chair of the SBA Constitution & By-Laws Committee (Chase B. White, [email protected]). Again, please come to the SBA Legislative Council meeting on Tuesday, March 19th at 12:00pm and Tuesday, April 2nd at 5:00pm in the F&R Courtroom if you have any questions at all. Thank you very much for your time, your review, and especially for your careful consideration!