Correction Appended
The Undergraduate Senate voted 11-7-1 to sustain Student Government President Andy MacCracken’s veto of the recent Clean Energy Revolving Fund bill on Sunday. The veto will allow the Senate to re-draft the bill, enabling the SG the freedom to express support for the fund.
CERF is an account created under the Office of Finance, that will work towards funding renewable energy projects on campus. The savings accumulated through these projects will then revolve back into the fund, creating a self-supporting financial account that will enable the university to achieve its sustainability goals.
The bill passed last week and sponsored by Senator for the Class of 2010 Steve Dalton, proposed “no money from any student account can go into the Clean Energy Revolving Fund.” This means that SG would be powerless to contribute any money to the fund, whether through Student Activity fees or reallocated money from surplus.
Brett Atanasio, senator for the class of 2013, said he supported MacCracken’s veto.
“[The new bill] is removing the CERF legislation of its teeth,” he said. “Without it [CERF] doesn’t have any authority, it doesn’t do anything.”
For this reason, MacCracken chose to veto the bill.
“I believe everyone supports [CERF],” he said. “But I do believe that this was passed in haste last week and didn’t get the proper second look to make sure that every single line in here did what we want it to do.”
After debate was repeatedly extended, MacCracken and the Undergraduate Senate will have a second chance to draft the new CERF bill.
You can reach this writer at news@theeagleonline.com.
Correction: In “Undergrad Senate votes to uphold MacCracken veto,” The Eagle stated that the Senate voted 11-7-1, sustaining the veto. At the Feb. 1 meeting of the Undergraduate Senate, there was an 11-7-1 vote in favor of overriding the veto. The votes were not enough of a majority to override the veto, thus sustaining it.
