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The Undergraduate Students Association Council had a lot on its plate, with multiple allocations and proposals to approve during Tuesday's meeting.
First, the council approved the USAC election ballot presented by elections board chair Kyle Kleckner after making a quick amendment to fix misspelled candidate names.
Then the councilmembers moved to approve the ASUCLA Undergraduate Students Association overhead budget for the 2008-2009 school year.
The council amended the budget by changing the USA secretary income from the proposed $12,306 to $10,000, a figure similar to secretary salaries in previous years.
In addition, the council approved an additional stipend for the Office Space Allocation Committee chair. The chair will now receive a $175 stipend each month and slightly smaller amounts during the summer.
The approved subtotal administrative overhead budget was a little over $500,000, not drastically different from the past two years' budgets.
Later in the meeting, the council finally approved The Green Initiative Fund guideline literature; representatives of TGIF will most likely add the proposal to the upcoming election's referendum ballot.
OSAC recommendations were presented to council for approval.
Some councilmembers said they did not feel comfortable voting on the recommendations because they did not have previous dialogue with the OSAC commitee or know why the original proposal was altered since last week's council meeting.
The office space recommendations were finally tabled for next week after lengthy discussion among OSAC committee members and councilmembers. An open OSAC and council meeting prior to Tuesday is tentatively in the works.
Toward the end of the meeting, Gabe Rose presented an Increased Representation Amendment to his original senate proposal. He recommended that four more general representatives be added to council in order for the student body to be more fairly represented, which would mean there would be seven general representatives on council, making the total officer head count 17. The general representatives would have a greater legislative role than a programming one.
Several committee members were in favor of the new proposal by saying the council needs increased representation.
Discussion continued at length until Rose held a tabled vote.
The amendment proposal needed a two-thirds majority vote but failed, 7-5-0.

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An important alumnus made a special visit during last week's Undergraduate Students Association Council meeting.
Current 16th District Sen. Dean Florez, former USAC president from 1986 to 1987, spoke to councilmembers about his past political experience at UCLA and answered questions regarding student lobbying and progressive legislation.
Alumni Representative Willard Tressel, who said he knew Florez for approximately 20 years, invited the senator to come speak to the council.
Florez transferred to UCLA as a community college student from Bakersfield because he wanted a change of scenery.
"I wanted to go to some town, any town that had a two-story building," Florez said. "Los Angeles was huge."
Once attending UCLA, Florez said he worked in the University of California Office of the President and was the Academic Affairs commissioner before running for the president position.
While campaigning as a progressive presidential candidate, Florez said he pushed issues such as affirmative action and student retention. He also said he was a grandson of farm laborers and never forgot to advocate on agricultural workers' behalf as an undergraduate.
Florez became the first Latino USAC president and said he enjoyed moving the student government council to be more progressionist.
Florez also said that he was well known for his battles with the UCLA chancellor as student president. He often fought for the increase of student diversity.
"I was a very outspoken student," Florez said. "I was one of the few students to ever get kicked out of the chancellor's house."
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in political science, Florez said he applied for a fellowship at the State Senate, and he worked in Sacramento for several years. Later he graduated from Harvard Business School and worked in investment banking.
Florez returned to public policy by first serving two terms in the State Assembly and was elected to the State Senate in 2002. As senator, he represents the lower half of the Valley.
The senator said that he still is outspoken and had similar disagreements with Gov. Schwarzenegger over the recent state budget crisis.
"Arnold and I have had public fights together," Florez said.
Florez said that USAC is the best training ground for politics because student leaders learn how to fight for their causes.
"Public policy is all about a fight," Florez said. "I hope you don't ever underestimate your power."
Florez said student leaders should also learn how to compromise as well.
Current External Vice President Jesse Melgar asked Florez how students can effectively lobby legislators.
Florez said that student lobbyists should not settle and be forceful and persistent because the legislators should work for them.
"You have every right to consider the (state) capitol your house," Florez said.
Cultural Affairs Commissioner Bernice Shaw asked the senator what progressive councilmembers can do for the student body.
Florez said elected officers should provide services and tell students what they do for them.
"You must be actually doing something," Florez said. "Politics is people-driven."
Florez said he will be running for lieutenant governor of California in the next few years. His mother, Franz Florez, the current mayor of Shafter, is also running for state assembly. Florez said if both he and his mother are elected, it will be the first time in the history of legislature a mother and son will work together.

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Much was said of Kyle Kleckner’s integrity at the Undergraduate Student Association Council’s meeting on Tuesday night.

The fourth-year political science student and president of Bruin Democrats was one of only two applicants who submitted materials to USAC President Gabe Rose for the position of elections board chair. Council spent roughly an hour and a half questioning Kleckner, Rose's choice as a qualified contender, whose candidacy was scrutinized by some because of his active involvement in several politically focused groups on campus. Kleckner has never actively participated in either of the dominant campus political slates.

Following a short recess so that the appointment review committee could interview the applicant privately, which was part of the appropriate procedure meticulously followed in examining Kleckner, he was appointed by the council.

Representatives from The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) returned after delivering their proposal to the council last week to make amendments to their ballot referendum, upon which the council agreed after some discussion and minor semantic amendments.

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During Tuesday's meeting, USAC President Gabe Rose said the search for the Elections Board chair is not yet over.
The chair is responsible for overseeing USAC spring elections. Usually a student who has served on a previous Elections Board fills the position.
Rose said he had not received any applications from any students prior to the meeting.
He told council he advertised on Facebook and had conversations with people expressing interest in it.
Yet no applications came.
Berky Nelson, administrative representative, appeared surprised when Rose mentioned the absence of applications.
Nelson simply asked, "No applications yet?"
Rick Tuttle, administrative alternate, said he recommends tripling the stipend for the Elections Board chair, which is currently less than $200.
"This job is a burden," Tuttle said. "Wouldn't you want to pay this person more?"
Rose said he would like for all the councilmembers to continue speaking with other councilmembers and acquaintances to see if they can find a qualified candidate who is free of partisan bias and has enough knowledge of spring elections and USAC in general.
Rose said he still welcomes any applications before next Tuesday's meeting.

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Representatives from two student groups made their own respective special presentations during the Undergraduate Students Association Council meeting on Tuesday.
Both organizations, Tuition Relief Now! and Reproductive Health Interest Group, were recently featured in the Daily Bruin on the current issues they bring to students' attention and continued their advocacy to the student government council.
Kristina Lai and Stephen Searles told the council that their organization focuses on passing the California Affordability Act of 2008, which will freeze UC and CSU student fees for five years and will only increase according to the California Consumer Price Index during the five-year period. They hope to collect a minimum of 400,000 signatures by April 17 to have the bill included on the November ballot.
Searles said Tuition Relief Now! would like to have USAC involved in their efforts to collect signatures and pass a resolution in support of the group.
"Our initiative really coincides with some of the missions of USAC," Searles said. "We think that a lot of your offices can really help us out."
Searles said his organization is already talking with the external vice president's office.
President Gabe Rose responded by saying he would like to talk to Tuition Relief Now! in the future regarding a USAC resolution.
The Reproductive Health Interest Group from the School of Public Health followed Tuition Relief Now! with a presentation on the Gardasil vaccine. According to the group's representative, the vaccine prevents the human papillomavirus, the most common sexually transmitted disease in the U.S. The group said students could get the vaccine at the Ashe Center to prevent strains that may lead to cervical cancer.
The group representative said the organization is collecting signatures in an effort to make the vaccine more affordable for students.

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Renee Fortier, director of Transportation Services, began the Undergraduate Students Association Council's short meeting with a special presentation regarding student parking fee consultation and transportation Tuesday evening.
Fortier said that her organization is currently working on a long-range development plan that may include caps on the number of trips to campus and parking spaces without stack parking.
Stack parking occurs when a person parks his or her vehicle behind someone else's vehicle in the same stall space.
At the end of her presentation, Fortier said she will be willing to talk about other alternative transportation with students.

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President Gabe Rose opened the Undergraduate Students Association Council meeting with one phrase: "This will be the fastest meeting in the history of USAC."
Rose's statement came true Tuesday night when the council sped through the few items on the agenda. The council unanimously approved several student groups' contingency allocation applications.
In addition, two representatives of the upcoming service event "Relay for Life" made a quick special presentation.
The meeting lasted a little under 20 minutes, and all the councilmembers rushed out of the chambers. A few, including Rose, said they wanted to attend the External Vice President Jesse Melgar's California primary viewing event after the meeting.

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A representative of the student group Samahang Pilipino spoke to the Undergraduate Students Association Council during the Tuesday meeting's public comments.
Samahang Pilipino President Nick de Ocampo said that he wanted to highlight the contradictions made by the President's office regarding the fairness of programming allocations for student groups on campus.
De Ocampo, who was featured in the Daily Bruin earlier this week, said he wanted to speak out against the President's office again for taking $80,000 from budget surplus to fund its own "Concerts for Cash" series program.
"We felt that our legitimacy as an organization was attacked," de Ocampo said.
He said that it is not fair for the President Office's program to be favored over other student organizations by the council.
"We have lost more trust in the council," de Ocampo said. "I want the council to know about the trend of losing trust of the student population."

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Tuesday's Undergraduate Student Association Council meeting started with a special presentation by the director of Web, Emerson Taymor from the Campus Events Commission.
He requested total of $1,500-$2,000 to overhaul the current USAC Web site's design and content.
Taymor said that the student government Web site had problems including outdated design aesthetics, unclear and illegible navigation bars and inconvenient pop-ups.
Taymor said that hopes to improve the Web site's design, make navigation easier and purchase a content management system, a software tool that helps managing the content easier.
"Web usability is about making your Web site in such a way that your site users can find what they're looking for quickly and efficiently," Taymor said.
After being asked by council when the improved Web site will be up, Taymor said that the overhaul process will be done before elections so students can get information about the upcoming spring election candidates and the overall election process.
The council will decide later whether to allocate the money to a new Web site or not.

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The Undergraduate Student Association Council finally approved the rest of the OSAC guideline changes on Tuesday evening.

One section of the OSAC guidelines was thoroughly discussed at the council table.

A revision in Section IV.R. said that OSAC has the right to audit any apparent false or misleading information provided during the funding application process. In addition, the revised guideline also said the false information provided in the application may result in the revocation of the right for a student group to apply or obtain an office for one to two years.

President Gabe Rose said this addition to the guidelines is good.

"If someone was pretty misleading in one area, it should be in the committee's discretion to look into it," Rose said.

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