Constitution and Statutes Committee Minutes
April 4th, 2016
John E. Sapp Conference Room 7:16 PM – 8:45 PM
Chair: Senate President Pro-Tempore Dallas Burke
I.
Call to Order
a. Meeting called to order at 7:16
II.
Initial Roll Call – Vice-Chair Justin Dato
III.
a. Quorum has been established with 6 voting members; Dato, Smith, Butler, Platts,
Johnson, Awan.
Student Remarks
a. Senator Mims: Tomorrow at 7 o’clock is OP’s talent show in which I will be
doing a monologue. Wednesday is the Beach Volleyball game.
IV.
Approval of Minutes – March 21st, 2016
Senator Platts: Motion to approve the minutes from March 21st, 2016. Second. Moved.
V.
Approval of Agenda
Senator Johnson: Motion to move CR to the last order of business. No Opposition.
Senator Butler: Motion to approve agenda as amended. Second. Moved.
VII.
Remarks of the Chair – sgaspt@unf.edu
Pro Tempore Burke: This is the last committee meeting for the semester, but I’m not
going to give some sappy farewell speech. You guys don’t want to hear that, and plus,
most of us are returning in the Fall Semester to continue our work in the Senate. We’ve
still got a lot of work to do. Respect to those who finished out their entire term.
VIII.
Unfinished Business
IX.
New Business
1. SB-16S-2959: Congruency Throughout SG – Senator Burke
a. Pro-Tempore Burke: This is to mirror the Baker Bill. The intent of this bill is to
make sure the agencies are able to meet with the VP of international affairs to
wave their GPA. This isn’t a discussion on raising the GPA requirement, solely to
give agencies the ability to wave GPA requirements.
b. Senator Platts: Motion to approve SB-16S-2959. Second. Motion passes 6-0-0.
c. Senator Platts: It’s pretty straight forward.
2. SB-16S-2958: The Agency Advisory Board – Attorney General Baker
a. Senator Jordan: This is something that we came across when we were forming the
Lend-A-Wing pantry as an agency.
b. AG Baker: There used to be three different agency advisory boards for the 3
different agencies. After talking to the future administration, we decided to merge
them into one advisory board. This is a way for all revised documents to be
approved before being forwarded to the president. The attorney general was added
since there was revision of documents, which should help out in a legal aspect.
We made it so that the agency advisor is involved in the advisory board, however
they do not need to be a voting member on the board. Advisory Board meetings
used to be closed, however, due to Florida State Sunshine law, we are required to
have these meetings open. The Foundation Account is to be used for replenishing
the pantry and memberships to appropriate establishments.
c. Pro Tempore Burke: Everything highlighted, we would need to motion to add into
the bill. I believe just one motion will suffice. Two more friendly amendments I
would like: motion to add agency in front of all “advisory board” and adding
“SG” in front of “president”.
d. Senator Smith: Motion to adopt the new version of SB-16S-2958. Second. Moved
with no opposition.
e. Senator Platts: Motion to add “SG” before any mention of the word “president”.
Second. Moved with no opposition.
f. Senator Butler: Motion to amend SB-16S-2958 by adding “Agency” in front of
any mention of “advisory board”. Second. Moved with no opposition.
g. Senator Platts: Motion to amend SB-16S-2958 in which 1100.8 says “hearings”
instead of “deliberation”. Second. Moved with no opposition.
h. Senator Butler: Motion to approve SB-16S-2958 as amended. Second. Moved 60-0.
3. SB-16S-2957: Title IX Revisions – Attorney General Baker
a. Chairwoman Keefe: This bill touches on eligibility on student government
officials. AG Baker will go in deeper in explanation.
b. Senator Jordan: This bill is to align us with the recent Judicial Review passed?
This is going up with the CR that was passed.
c. Pro Tempore Burke: Have you asked the SG Director how she feels about
checking students’ GPAs? She already does that. We’re just trying to keep any
FERPA related stuff out of the hands of people other than the advisor and SG
Director.
d. Senator Jordan: So this is to avoid breaking the law? Yes.
e. Pro Tempore Burke: So are the Advisors and Directors the “middle men” to
forward people to send to the VP of Student Affairs? Yes.
f. Senator Platts: Motion to amend SB-16S-2957 by added the highlighted section.
Second. Moved with no opposition.
g. Senator Butler: Motion to approve SB-16S-2957. Second. Moved 6-0-0.
4. SB-16S-2955: Clarification of Ethical Standards and Enforcement Act – Senator Jordan
a. Senator Jordan: This is something I’ve been working with AG Baker and Advisor
Shore. I was reading through the statutes one night, and I looked through title X
and I found the wording to be lacking. If you look through Title X there are a lot
of friendlies. One of my biggest concerns is that it doesn’t define “intimidation”
and “retaliation”. This prevents any SG member from using intimidation and
retaliation for personal gain.
b. Senator Butler: Why would you like the committee to come up with a definition
and why can’t we use Black Law? It was advised.
c. Senator Butler: Would you be okay with saying “using the most recent version of
Black’s Law Dictionary”? Yes.
d. Senator Sayers: For the freedom of speech section, I recommend someone putting
a period after “Freedom of Speech” since it’s common law.
e. Senator Butler: Motion to amend SB-16S-2955 in which “the definition of
intimidation…” says “the current edition of Black’s Law”. Second. Moved with
no opposition.
f. Senator Platts: Motion to amend SB-16S-2955 to just put a period after “freedom
of speech and strike everything after. Second. Moved with no opposition.
g. Senator Platts: Motion to approve SB-16S-2955. Second. Motion passes 6-0-0.
h. Senator Platts: I believe these are appropriate changes.
5. CR-16S-2947: Revisions to Article II and IV – Senator Beaucham and Senator Burke
a. Senator Beaucham: This bill is just to fix a bunch of friendlies. The highlight of
this bill is to raise the requirement of passing legislation. A lot of the changes
were for grammatical errors. Section 7: Passage of Legislation has changes where
all legislation must be passed with 2/3 vote, raising the requirement. Section 6:
Administration, quorum is to be established with more than half rather than 50%.
b. Senator Smith: Is there a way to make a motion to fix all the friendlies? The SG
part needs to be added in as well as the OB section.
c. Senator Platts: Can you explain your reasoning from simple majority to 2/3?
Raising the majority requirement increases the influence.
d. Senator Awan: Is there a better reasoning fro a 2/3rd’s vote? To be able to better
voice the opinions of the students.
e. Senator Awan: I think it has a wrong precedent because 51% of senators voting
Listen to the minutes
f. Senator Smith: Isn’t a majority a majority?
g. Senator Smith: Is there a reason why some just need 50% and others need 2/3?
2/3 is more of a super majority. For example, stopping discussion is cutting off
people’s voices so you would need a bigger majority in support of that.
h. Senator Butler: Motion to close discussion. Second. Moved with no opposition.
i. Pro Tempore Burke: Any opposed of adding SG in front of Supreme Court? So
moved.
j. Senator Butler: Motion to amend CR-16S-2947 by adding a point D under Section
6 saying “Omnibus Bill: If a bil embraces more than one subject, t shall be
defined as an Omnibus Bill. A majority vote shall be required by the Senate
Committee(s) to pass an Omnibus Bill, and a two-thirds (2/3) vote shall be
required by the Senate for final passage.” Second. Motion passes 6-0-0.
k. Senator Butler: This location makes perfect sense to me.
l. Senator Johnson: Motion to approve CR-16S-2947 as amended. Second. Motion
passes 4-0-3 with vote by the chair.
m. Senator Smith: Call for the question. No objections.
X.
Announcements
Senator Smith: With 1 more senate meeting left, I urge everyone to go into senate to only
speak if it hasn’t been spoken on before.
Senator Awan: I’ve learned a lot from Senator Burke and I just want to say it is awesome
for him to break a tie on his last committee meeting. He is a mentor who is obviously
passionate about everything he does on top of Senate, he works out, and he’s a Chem
major. Thank you for everything.
Senator Mims: I better see yall tomorrow and Wednesday.
XI.
Final Roll Call – Vice-Chair
Quorum has been reestablished with six (6) voting members; Dato, Smith, Butler, Platts,
Johnson, Awan
XII.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 8:44 PM.
Minutes taken by Justin Dato, Constitution and Statutes Vice Chair