Senators plan to discuss proposed changes to student group guidelines and vote on eight bills at tonight’s meeting, including one that would require Senate approval for all ASG expenditures of more than $50.

They also will elect a new speaker, treasurer, rules chair and secretary today. Petitions for the April 11 campuswide election for president and executive, academic and student services vice presidents are due Friday.

The student group guideline changes would rename the C-status category as Temporary and revamp the voting system that initially derecognized or demoted 16 groups this year and took away ASG funding from the Interfraternity Council.

Temporary, or T-status, groups would have the same privileges as C-status groups, but reclassifying the category would close a loophole that allowed more organizations to obtain the status than it was designed for, said Hilary Zalar, executive vice president.

The new guidelines would also change the process of group recognition. Instead of averaging the numerical grade that each executive committee member gives a group, members would discuss the merits of the group and vote. This would prevent a member from sabotaging a group’s chances by assigning a zero.

Among other bills that senators are scheduled to vote on, a spending bill proposes to provide a Senate check on spending by the Associated Student Government Executive Board.

Allison Hall Sen. Alex Seeskin, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said he felt the need for a tangible check and balance system because the Exec Board does not inform the Senate and students how it spends its discretionary funds.

“The American people elect the president,” said Seeskin, a Weinberg freshman. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that they trust him.”

A&O Productions Sen. Ben Patterson, who co-authored the bill, said his concern was publicizing all expenditures. Patterson is the Wednesday columnist for The Daily.

“If the student government wants to have any credibility, then it has to be honest on how it’s spending the money it gets,” Patterson said.

President Steve Spaulding said he has tried to keep the senators aware of all Exec Board spending but did not inform them about the discretionary fund because no one asked about it until recently.

He did say he would be happy to report big-ticket expenditures to senators, but not according to the proposed legislation.

While the bill is technically constitutional, Treasurer Brad Miller said he was confident it would not pass because the treasurer would not always be able to pay ASG’s bills on time. Instead, Miller said he would propose an amendment to the bill to make the treasurer report all payments.

Seeskin said he would settle for the amendment if the bill would not pass otherwise.

“Yes, it makes their records public, but whoop-de-doo,” he said. “They’ll still go out to dinner with Dave Sheldon at Davis Fish Market.”

Other proposals on the agenda include:

reducing the WildCARD replacement fee from $20 to $5;

improving the safety of the intersection at Hinman Avenue and Sheridan Road;

alerting students by e-mail of holds on their registration one week before the start of registration;

improving the NU undergraduate study bulletin by adding more information on class offerings; and

allowing people to leave University Library without showing the contents of their bags.