USU legislation efforts successful
The Utah State University delegation at the Utah Intercollegiate Assembly (UIA) this year was one of the most successful delegations ever to come out of USU, said Rex Hansen, Executive Vice President of the Associated Students of USU.
The delegation of 15 from USU sponsored and co-sponsored five pieces of legislation that passed the UIA assembly and will now be passed on to the Board of Regents for consideration. Hansen said a school is only able to sponsor three pieces of legislation, but USU wrote six and was able to work with Snow College and Salt Lake Community College to co-sponsor the other three USU-written bills.
The pieces of legislation written by USU that passed this year focused on these issues:
• Restoring legislative funding for libraries in higher education.
• Line item funding for the Disability Resource Center so the funding will be ongoing was also addressed.
• Studying the feasibility of creating a health insurance risk pool for the state. The pool may have the potential to save the state a lot of money and money for students in the long run, Hansen said.
• Incentive grants for non-traditional students to help older students return to school for continued education and training.
• The last piece of legislation that passed was diversity curriculum requirements for students to help students better understand diversity in the nation and the world.
Braden Jenkins, UIA chair for USU, led the delegation in not only passing the legislation, but also placing USU students in leadership positions for next year’s assembly.
Justin Huff will serve as next year’s legislative vice president. The legislative vice president is like the governor of UIA. The governor has the power to influence legislation as well as help pass legislation of USU interest.
Cherrissa Smith will serve as the attorney general in next year’s assembly.
Hansen explained the UIA has a direct bearing on USU students because all legislation passed is the put in front of the Utah Council of Student Body Presidents (UCSP). After review by the UCSP, the legislation will be brought in front of the Board of Regents as the will of the students. The UIA and the Regents then lobby the State Legislature for higher education.
“UIA is the kind of the legislative branch and the UCSP is kind of the executive branch” of the Utah Student Association (USA), Hansen said.
“Every student in higher education is part of the UIA.”
The student regent on the Board of Regents is a USU student in the UIA, and the group spearheaded the “Truth in Tuition” bill, which passed this Legislative session.