Senator Erich M Fabricius submitted the following report regarding Government Bill 07, "An Act to Permanently Reschedule the Election of the Senate Fall Appointments Commission", on Tuesday, May 28th 2002, as sponsor to said act :

Purpose of Legislation:

The Appointments Commission Reschedule Act adjusts the Senate Standing Rules so that the Fall Appointments Commission is automatically elected at the last meeting of the Spring instead of the first meeting of the Fall. Most importantly, this gives members of the Commission time to work over the summer and allows work in the Fall without intervening Senate meeting.

Background Information:

The Fall Appointments Commission, in the predessor committee form, was las selected entirely in the fall in the 1999-2000 Session. The 2000-2001 Session elected the Chairman in the spring by suspension of rules, and the 2001-2002 elected the entire Commission in the spring by suspension of the rules.

In Seriatim Description:

Section 1. of the bill simply changes the "first meeting of the fall semester" to the "last meeting of the spring semester".

Section 2. of the bill is the immediate enactment clause, with a proviso to elect the commission in miscellenous business should the bill be adopted at the May 1st (last spring) Senate Meeting.

General Commentary:

First off, I believe it to be quite important that the Senate doesn't stumble around in the fall starting up. The Senate should be doing serious work in August. Along these lines, the fall appointees need to be selected as soon as possible. As the statutes rightly mandate a ten day application period, it is important that applications are made available by the time school starts. This allows both the student plenty of time to apply and the Commission time to review applicants. If the Commission were seated in the Fall, the application process would likely begin on either the 4th or 9th class day.

I also believe it is important that the Senate make permanent rule changes when it finds itself suspending certain rules as a matter of course. Suspension of rules destroys the protective regularity of procedure and should be avoided.

Time Issues:

This bill is of most useful effect this session if considered prior to the conclusion of the Spring semester, as it seeks to avoid another suspension of the rules on Fall Appointments Commission election.