Three weeks after student Sen. Lindsay Richardson presented a new Student Government constitution, the student body president-elect took to the floor once again Wednesday to propose another draft of the proposal.
The new proposal moves away from some of the controversial aspects of the previous amendment; it would have made the student body treasurer an appointed position, created a position — speaker of the senate — to oversee the student senate and put the vice president’s focus on running programs and initiatives.
The new proposal would keep the treasurer as an elected position and allow the senate, not the student body, to elect the speaker. Under the proposal, the speaker of the senate would receive a stipend.
An amendment presented by Sen. Patrick Bailey changed this portion of the bill, striking the speaker’s stipend and instead making the speaker an ex-officio member in meetings of SG’s executive officers and administration.
That is, if the amendment is approved, the speaker would attend the same meetings as the student body president, vice president and treasurer, but would not be compensated for his or her work in SG. The speaker would serve in essentially the same capacity that the vice president currently does, but the position’s name would change.
When he presented the amendment, which Richardson said she does not support, Bailey said he did not have an opinion one way or another about if the speaker should be paid but that he wanted to make sure both sides of the argument were represented before the senate votes next week.
The constitution referendum and the accompanying amendment will be on the second contested reading calendar at next week’s senate session, when members will have a chance to vote on the legislation for the first time. The previous draft of the constitution was removed from consideration.
SG’s line of succession would also be changed under the new proposal, with the speaker of the senate taking over for the vice president if he is unable to fulfill his duties. If the speaker left office, the speaker pro tempore of the senate would take over in the role.