This edition of Council Clippings covers the UHR and GSS meetings from March 24, 2009.
Impeachment Proceedings
This week, the UHR voted to impeach representative Brian-Paul Gude for poor attendance, but the vote was insufficient to remove him from office. Gude was impeached because he has missed four UHR meetings. Removal from office requires a vote of 75% of the voting body (not a proportion of representatives present,) and a vote of 32-10-0 was not sufficient to remove Gude from office.
Culture Fest
This week, SGA had three bills pertaining to Culture Fest, a week-long celebration of diversity arranged by Culture Tech.The bills included a performance night, an international film festival and a food festival. Representatives expressed concern that the organization may have designed three bills for a single event, but learned that bills were to cover three of five events taking place over the span of a week.
After waiving a policy against purchasing food, both houses passed all three bills.
Rugby Team
Tech’s rugby team has entered the playoffs, and requested funds for an upcoming tournament in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The winner of the upcoming tournament will be promoted to division one. If Tech is promoted to division one, it will be able to play against teams such as Clemson and UGA. SGA funds will be used to cover the travel expenses to attend the tournament, as well as the match balls per the tournament requirements.
The bill passed the senate, and carried the house with a vote of 42-1-0.
Call and Response
Call and Response is an event organized by One Voice, planned as an awareness concert to provide information about sex trafficking. The concert will feature three artists, as well as multiple organizations that work to reduce sex trafficking in Atlanta.
Call and Response will be held March 31, at the Academy of Medicine.
The bill covered operating expenses such as equipment rental and security, as well as advertising expenses.
The bill was passed in both chambers after amendments to meet JFC policy.
Joint Bill Policy
This week, the UHR considered a new joint bill policy designed to reduce delays in the event that bills do not match the modifications made by GSS and UHR.
The new policy refines what happens to a bill following conference committee meetings. After conference committee meetings, the unamendable version enters old business.
The policy also defines how vetoes of bills are treated. In the event of a veto by a single chamber, UHR and GSS must reach an enactment ratio of 67 percent to overturn the veto. In the event of a veto in both chambers, that ratio increases to 75 percent.
GSS passed the joint policy last week. This week, the policy passed the UHR 42-0-0.