SGA Senate in recess until after election


Unable to meet quorum, student government will not pass new legislation


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Student Government Association president Charles Mahone discusses the basics of being a member of the senate with the senate candidates on Feb. 16, 2015 in Anspach Hall. 

Unable to meet quorum for its final two weeks in session, the Student Government Association cancelled its remaining Senate meetings. 

By not having at least 15 members present so as to vote and pass legislation, no new legislation can move through the Senate.

SGA President Chuck Mahone said the lack of quorum, though uncommon, is “not unheard of."

The inability to seat a quorum is due to a combination of senators who had to resign due to academic reasons, and senators who took on a workload without fully understanding the commitment. 

“In this context, this (inability to meet quorum) isn’t stopping us from doing anything we want to do,” Mahone said. “I would feel differently if we had individuals who really wanted to introduce (bills) but couldn’t do so, but right now we don’t have anything that we need to pass. If we did have legislation waiting in the wings that would be bad, but we don’t so this (not meeting quorum) is not hurting us.”

The regularly scheduled SGA meeting on March 23 will not see a meeting of the House or Senate, as the Presidential Press Conference will be taking place that night at 8 p.m. in Anspach 162.

The following meeting on March 30 will feature legislation being introduced in the House that has already passed in the Senate, making it irrelevant whether or not the Senate is in session, Mahone said.

“In last meeting the house will be talking about (bills) the senate already approved,” Mahone said.

Vice President of SGA Mariah Urueta said any bill a student would want to introduce at this point in the semester would more than likely be held until the following fall semester.

“If anyone had anything they wanted to introduce, Senate can’t vote on it but the house can,” Urueta said. “(The student) would have to hold their bill until next semester, or unless the next presidential administration wants to continue meetings for the rest of the year.”

Following SGA’s crackdown on attendance, Urueta says that the inability to meet quorum is “rather ironic” but should not be viewed as a "negative thing."

“If this happened in the middle of the semester, I would be more concerned,” Urueta said in the ninth week of the 16-week semester. “But considering the reasoning behind the drop in senators is because of academic and personal reasons, and it’s so close to the end of the semester, that’s kind of how the cards fell.”

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Troy senior Jordyn Hermani, Editor-in-Chief of Central Michigan Life, is a double major ...

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