The 68th Senate of the Associated Students of New Mexico State University met on Oct. 31. The subject at hand was reimbursement delays.
The session opened with ASNMSU Adviser Sam Worley who expressed disappointment that several bills passed at the last meeting were delayed due to mistakes. These bills were meant to reimburse money to students going on important trips, but had several errors that according to him “should’ve been caught” in committees.
Worley warned that mishaps like these delay the money ASNMSU is trying to send to students in need and pressured senators to make sure their bills are clear and accurate.
“Look at the dates of travel, make sure the mileage amounts are correct, because ultimately, we are trying to get students reimbursed. And mistakes like that cost people money,” Worley said.
Worley also stressed that about 80% of students are $500 away from dropping out of NMSU, according to a recent survey.
“So that means for example, one unexpected car repair that may cost $500 could be the thing that makes someone drop out,” Worley explained. “The same thing with some of these students going on trips, if they are expecting to be reimbursed with some of their money, this could be the straw that causes them to quit.”
In order to get previous reimbursements through the senate as soon as possible, Sen. Wyatt Ziehe motioned to suspend Chapter 7 Section 3 Subsection 3 of the Financial Procedures of ASNMSU, which states the leaders of a recognized organization wishing to receive funds from ASNMSU must complete and sign a Financial Procedure Workshop.
Ziehe expressed that this procedure was an impediment and the motion was approved.
Sen. Szalai reintroduced two bills involving reimbursements to student trips, Bills 49 and 47, with the latter having been previously vetoed.
Bill 49 meant to reimburse money to students planning to attend the Evergreen Jazz festival in Evergreen, Colorado. The bill’s main promise was to cover the cost of gas needed for the students to make it to their destination.
Bill 47 proposed funding a student’s research presentation at the IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting in Seattle, Washington. The updated version provided a new amount of reimbursement and the cost of registration. It overcame the two-thirds majority threshold needed to overturn its previous veto from President Ala Alhalholy.
“I had made a mistake in writing the bill and I forgot to include the cost of registration.” Szalai said. “And because it had already been passed, there was not really much we could do. But I had spoken with the President about this, and we discussed the possibility of it being vetoed just so that it could be then later corrected.”
Sen. Szalai voiced his commitment to prevent a repeat of the same mistakes.
“My plan is to contact community chairs ahead of time,” Szalai said. “I have done this with other bills before. The reason two of my passed bills were rushed in our last meeting was because the organization in question was not officially listed on Crimson Connection, and then with this third one I delayed it myself, which was my fault. I should have pushed that one out earlier.”
The session adjourned at 7:30 p.m., followed by the senate’s Halloween costume contest. Nominations were accepted by Vice President Elida Miller and all members voted on their favorite nominees. Sen. Anderson, who dressed in a Blake’s Lotaburger sign, walked away as the winner of that contest.
