Parking legislation flounders in senate

Andrea Harris

Senators listen to the proposed parking bill legislation, which was tabled at the last meeting Nov. 4 and voted down during the meeting Nov. 18. Other topics discussed at the Nov. 18 meeting included the duties of the Student Judicial Council and a committee to review the SG constitution.

Commuter parking rules, the duties of the student judicial council and a committee to review the constitution were the topics of debate at this week’s SG meeting.

The parking bill, proposed two weeks ago by SG Senator Benjamin Lynn, would have allowed for students to put parking ticket fines towards the purchase of a parking permit. After a short debate, the bill was voted down with a vote of 4 in favor and 22 against.

Lynn said he was disappointed, but not surprised.

“I’m a little disappointed in the result of the parking permit bill, but it was expected, I expected it to happen. I would have just liked to see SG push this forward because I don’t want us to get in the habit of doing the minimal amount of work, or doing nothing, and just complaining about parking, so I wanted us to do something about it,” Lynn said.

Cody Spoon, chair of the internal affairs committee, was against the bill because he felt it would be unfair to the students who did not get tickets, but still paid for a parking permit.

“It would benefit students in some light, but it would kind of punish students who actually respected the rules and paid for the parking pass … to go back on a previous analogy, it’s kind of like stealing food or something [from the POD], and then if you get caught, you just have to pay for a meal plan. It’s almost like you’re punishing people for doing the right thing,” Spoon said.

A resolution was passed without opposition to set down an official procedure for the Student Judicial Council to review legislation. SJC has had the power to decide whether legislation are constitutional since its inception. The proposed resolution set up a system where the council would meet with the president to give its opinion on the constitutionality of proposed legislation.

A constitutional review committee was established by another resolution in order to amend the constitution. Members of both SJC and the senate would have the power to go through the constitution, reviewing the original document and making amendments. The resolution also passed without opposition.