All was calm in the senate chambers until UF Student Body President Joselin Padron-Rasines decided to use her executive power to veto two sets of code revisions.
Padron-Rasines vetoed reforms to the 500 and 700 codes of the Student Body Statute at Tuesday night’s UF Student Senate meeting.
The vetoes were sustained by the Senate, as a two-thirds majority to override the decision was not reached.
The 500 codes involve governmental boards, commissions and subsidiary organizations, while the 700 codes pertain to SG elections. She vetoed the 500 codes because of a clause regarding the executive committee, which currently consists of the Student Body president, vice president, treasurer and Student Senate president, Student Senate pro tempore and Student Senate budget and appropriations committee chairperson.
This clause allows for three members of the Student Senate to vote twice for members appointed by the executive branch, once during the nomination process and once during the senate approval process.
"The 500 codes as they currently stand violate the separation of powers," Padron-Rasines said.
Majority party leader for the Swamp Party, Charlie Brown Jr., disagreed.
"What these 500 codes do is they deliver some of the things our leaders have campaigned for – accountability," he said. "It brings folks to the table even when they don’t want to be."
The 700 code reforms would only allow for one SG sponsored debate during the Spring election cycle. These codes restrict the freedom of speech, Padron-Rasines said.
"I have concluded that putting a single debate on a pedestal dismisses all other debates," she said.
Opposition said the executive branch wasn’t involved in creating the codes.
"During the votes in regards to the 500 and 700, there were no representatives from the executive committee," said Ty Robare of the Swamp Party and chairman for the comprehensive statute reform ad hoc committee.
Comprehensive Statute Reform Ad Hoc Committee Chairman Ty Robare (left) answers a question during the UF Student Senate meeting on Aug. 25, 2015, regarding the reforms to the 500 codes in the Student Body Statutes.
