Representatives from the Debate Team requested funding to pay for entry fees, travel to three different tournaments and to hire a debate coach. The organization representatives pointed to the fact that they had been state debating champions for four straight years and that members often had to pay their own way to tournaments, using this historical data to support justification of the bill.
After asking a series of questions to the organization representatives, UHR discussed several aspects of the bill, including the need for a debate coach.
One representative, who conceded that he did not know that much about debate clubs, questioned why the organization was only hiring the coach for competitions and not for practices.
Representative Hunter Hammond then responded, mentioning his own experience in debate organizations, stating that this decision was completely reasonable and that there was not a fundamental problem with the bill. The bill was passed by UHR 46-0-0.