The bill-tracking system that premiered Wednesday at Associated Student Government’s Senate meeting was missing one key element: bills.
Senators have passed only two resolutions this year, both at the first meeting. Last year, Senate had passed six pieces of legislation by this time, said Speaker of the Senate Bassel Korkor. ASG recently introduced a tracking system — a chart in the Senate meeting room used to record the progress of bills as they move from new business to official university policy. Although the walls of the room are currently empty, Senate is working just as hard, Korkor said.
“The focus of the beginning of last year was getting down to business, basically working harder,” said Korkor, a Weinberg junior. “The focus of this year is working smarter.”
Whereas executive board members set numerical quotas for legislation last year, senators this year will focus on completely researching bills and defining the issues, ASG members said.
“The (senators) who came back this year are more concerned with bigger projects,” said Weinberg senior Neil Shah, a third-year senator for A&O Productions. “We may only produce two bills a quarter, but that keeps the whole committee working because they’re so enormous in scope.”
Senate committee chairs said they expect a rush of legislation in the upcoming weeks as groups complete their research on bills.
“All the legislation for my committee is going to come out at the same time,” said Student Services Vice President Courtney Brunsfeld, who declined to elaborate on her committee’s plans. “The lack of legislation doesn’t mean stuff isn’t being worked on.”
While senators are working on legislation, they have also learned from recent ASG setbacks, such as the delay of alcoholic tailgates, said Chapin Sen. Ben Cherry. The first tailgate, originally scheduled for the Sept. 29 home football game, was delayed two weeks because of confusion over the event’s location.
“The whole fiasco with the tailgates made senators realize it can be difficult to implement legislation, especially when you have to work with the administration,” said Cherry, a Weinberg sophomore. “All senators, especially freshmen senators, are hesitant to write these bulging bills because they fear conflict with the administration.”
Cherry said he is working on legislation to have full breakfast service in all residential dining halls.
In comparison to this year, last year’s bills were more student-oriented, Korkor said. For example, the first bill Senate passed last year called for the reduction of printing fees at public computer terminals.
“This year there were a lot of issues, but those issues were administrative issues,” Korkor said. “How much can ASG do for the Rashidi Wheeler lawsuit or the attacks in New York and Washington? The most we can do in issues that are that big is show our support.”
At its first meeting, Senate unanimously passed two resolutions, one honoring the victims of the terrorist attacks and another regarding Northwestern’s sesquicentennial.
Korkor said he expects about three bills to be introduced as new business at the Senate meeting on Wednesday. Senators would vote on those bills the following week.
ASG also held “table talk sessions” at the Technological Institute and The Rock on Monday where they distributed surveys to passing students. Korkor said he hopes the sessions will provide a chance to brainstorm ideas for legislation. Several of this year’s Senate goals were generated by Spring Quarter table talk sessions.
Korkor said he thinks this year’s new senators are more dedicated because executive board members emphasized commitment in their recruitment efforts.
“They’re a stronger group and they’re going to have stronger bills than last year,” he said.
