SA: S.A. Resolution #31: Clarifying Student Assembly Special Projects Funds

Sponsored by: Roneal Desai ‘13, Don Muir ‘15, Cameron Pritchett ‘15

Whereas, the Student Assembly determines how to appropriate its own budget in the Standing Rules;

Whereas, there are not current stipulations regarding how funds in the Assembly’s “Special Projects” account should be approved by either the President, Vice President of Finance, Appropriations Committee, or the Assembly as whole;

Be it therefore resolved, that the Student Assembly Standing Rules be amended as follows with clauses to be added in bold and clauses to be stricken in strikethrough:

Rule 3 The Student Assembly may choose to fund any project, program or service through SA Special Projects that it deems to improve the quality of undergraduate student life or to further the goals of the SA. Special Projects funding is a type of category spending.

Rule 3 4 Special Projects funding may be requested by any of the following, but not limited to:

Rule 4 5 The SA President and Vice President for Finance together may approve any special projects funding request up to $250 without consultation with the Appropriations Committee. Amounts up to $250 may also be funded by a majority vote of the Appropriations Committee. Requests must be made public at a Student Assembly meeting in the form of an “Announcement/Report” before being approved. Any SA voting member can motion for the request to be sent to the Appropriations Committee if they feel necessary.

Rule 5 6 The Appropriations Committee shall decide upon the approval of special projects requests over $250 and under $1500 by a majority vote. The SA Assembly, at large, may reverse an Appropriations Committee decisions to fund amounts regarding special projects funding over $250 by a two-thirds vote.

Rule 6 7 Requests $1500 and over shall be decided upon by a majority vote of the Appropriations Committee and confirmed by a majority vote of the Student Assembly, at large. The SA, at large, is only required to confirm requests of $1500 or greater.

Rule 7 Any party with the ability to approve expenditures to be funded through the Special Projects account of the Student Assembly can only do so if the request meets the following criteria:

• 1. All requests must be for expenditures that are either Student Assembly initiatives or projects that a Student Assembly member has been involved in, which can include the organization, execution, or publicity involving the expenditure as a result of the member’s role on the Student Assembly.
• 2. Requests that are not being made by seated members of the Assembly on behalf of projects that originated within the Assembly must demonstrate that alternative forms of funding have been sought and that it was not reasonable for the requesting party to have received an adequate level of funding given the available resources given the project’s timeline. This requirement may only be voided if the funding request is for an expenditure that could not have explored other funding alternatives due to the time-sensitive nature of the request.
• 3. Any request for more than 50% of the Special Projects account allocated at the beginning of an academic year must be approved by a 2/3 majority of the Appropriations Committee instead of any majority otherwise stipulated in these Standing Rules.
• 4. Any recurring expense may not be funded through the Student Assembly Special Projects account more than once.
• 5. The Student Assembly should have the option of being listed as a co-sponsor of any event that receives Special Projects funding.

Rule 8 The Vice President for Finance shall present a written report to the SA, at large, each time a special projects disbursement is made.

Respectfully Submitted,
Roneal Desai, ‘13
Vice President of Finance

Cameron Pritchett ‘15
Minority Representative At-large

Donald Muir ‘15
College of Arts and Sciences Representative

(Approved by the Appropriations Committee by a vote of 9–1−0 on 11/26/2012)

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