Senator Erich M Fabricius submitted the following report regarding Senate Bill 59, "AN ACT TO REQUIRE THAT MANDATORY MEETINGS OF THE PUBLIC SENATE COMMITTEES BE HELD IN THE STUDENT CENTERS AND THAT REFERRED BUSINESS BE CONSIDERED ONLY AT MANDATORY MEETINGS ", on Monday, January 27th 2003, as sponsor to said act :

Purpose of Legislation:

The Meeting Location Act restricts the ability of Senate Committees to meet in non-USC facilities for consideration of legislation or referred business. Also waives punitive attendance at all non-USC meetings.

Background Information:

Over the past few sessions, there has been private debate amongst the leadership of the Senate on the appropriateness of meeting off-campus for official SG functions, at all levels of the organization. The key concern is the limit to what sorts of locations a general member of the public can be reasonable expected to be comfortable attending.

Notable Changes:

The bill changes two things:

(i) It bars committee meetings for the purpose of considering referred business (such as legislation) off of the University Student Centers. The assumption made is that anything referred to a committee is of interest to the general membership of the Senate, and quite possible the student body. In this case, a chairman cannot reasonable be expected to confirm a location with all relavent parties.

(ii) No punitive attendance is taken for meetings missed that occured outside of the Student Centers. As students of this university, it is reasonable to assume these locations are known and accessible to us. Any number of factors can frustate a student's attempts to attend a meeting off-campus or in an unfamilar academic building.

General Commentary:

It is important to be clear that this bill does not prevent committees to meet at locations of their descretion to work on the issues before the committee. This bill requires formal business to be conducted in a formal location, and offers protections for Senators acculmating absences due to missing meeting in unofficial locations.