Student Association President Nicole Capp used the first veto of her presidency Thursday night to reject an SA Senate bill slated to provide $6,000 worth of promotional supplies for the GW F.E.E.D homelessness initiative.
The SA Senate passed the bill on Monday night without going through the finance committee or following the normal legislative procedure. SA Sen. OG Oyiborhoro (CCAS-U), who sponsored the bill and chairs GW F.E.E.D, streamlined the process because the program begins this Tuesday and he did not have funds allocated last year to the student life committee by former SA President Lamar Thorpe.
“I am troubled with the process through which the bill was managed through the Senate,” Capp said in a news release. “By choosing to bypass the standard legislative process, senators, in general, were denied the opportunity of reflective consideration and the finance committee specifically was denied the ability to consider the event information in the same manner that it would consider all other uses of student body funds.”
Oyiborhoro said Capp’s veto does not spell the end for GW F.E.E.D. The body can override Capp’s veto with a two-thirds vote.
“I still support my bill,” said Oyiborhoro, a junior. “I believe the SA will give me the money.”
Capp said she will use $450 of “non-student-fee SA revenue account funds” to purchase a banner for the event’s kickoff.
“I want GW F.E.E.D to be a success, and I know it will be,” said Capp, a junior. “With immediate needs met, there is no compelling need for this style of emergency legislation.”
The Special Elections Committee, which oversees the student fee increase referendum, also met for the first time last week and voted to have the election on Sept. 25. A student wide vote on the intiative, which would raise the fee from $1 per credit hour to a flat fee of $20 for graduates and $30 for undergraduates per semester, will be completed online.
“It can be done online because it is a referendum and not a normal election,” said junior Vishal Aswani, chair of the SEC. “Also an online election is much more cost effective than an election using paper ballots.”
The SA Senate meets again Sept. 25.
