Jonah Hinebaugh | The Crow’s Nest
By Jonah Hinebaugh
A bill that would make transactions from the Student Government president’s $10,000 discretionary fund public knowledge is making its way through the legislative process.
It passed unanimously Nov. 8 at the senate committee on policy meeting, but it still needs to go to a second reading before votes are cast.
It was drafted by senator Michael Johnson, who serves as the chair of the policy committee, and is aptly titled “Where’s The Money?” which elicited laughter at the Nov. 4 general assembly meeting when it was introduced.
“It’s a discretionary fund that’s already separate from the money that she gets paid as the president,” Johnson said. “So I think it would be fair for that kind of funding to be public because I pay tuition to go here, and so does everyone else here.”
The discretionary fund is on top of the $70,000 in Activities and Services fees allocated to salaries for members of Student Government. In total, SG has an operating budget of $222,205.
There are also senate and judicial discretionary funds that total $2,500 altogether.
The bill calls for all receipts or expenditure requests related to the fund to be uploaded to the Student Government drive within three business days of a purchase being made.
In addition, the president would have to make an announcement at the following general assembly meeting when funds are spent, as well as keep an updated document with the remaining balance of the fund.
SG President Jadzia Duarte attended the policy meeting to show support for the bill.
“I agree because it’s a part of (Activities and Services) funds. It’s already been put into the budget,” Duarte said. “It’s student’s dollars, so I don’t see as to why not. I agree with the intent of the bill, talking about making everything public.”
Johnson said the bill spawned from the efforts of another senator who wanted to protest a detention center housing migrant children in Homestead.
Earlier this month, senator Karla Correa drafted a petition urging Duarte to provide a bus for a protest that would travel to Homestead on Nov. 22 and return that evening.
The facility is run by a private prison company contracted by the Department of Health and Human Services. The contract won’t be renewed at the end of November, according to the Miami Herald.
According to Correa, the time constraints prevented her from going through the special funding committee to get a bus for the trip.
“It’s not enough time to request the money for the bus from special funding,” Correa said. “Special funding also only has like $1,000 left for the entire year.
“I have other clubs that I’m a part of. I know we’re going to be using money for that, so it would be easier for Jazzy to give us the money from her discretionary fund.”
After Duarte expressed concerns about the protest’s turnout, Correa wanted to find out how much money was spent from the discretionary fund.
She said Duarte was hesitant to release that information, but after the senate committee on policy meeting, Duarte told The Crow’s Nest how much was spent.
Duarte said she allocated $1,218 to Harborside Activities Board to provide food for the Homecoming Ball. Additionally, $300 came from the senate president’s discretionary fund for decorations for the ball.
“The discretionary fund is a little bit more flexible with using the purchase card because you’re just able to do a quick transaction because it usually ended up being like food (or) things that really didn’t get funded last-minute,” Duarte said.
She said the reason it wasn’t made public earlier was most likely because past presidents didn’t see it as a priority.
“I guess it was just because it was a lot of little things that they didn’t really see (making it public) necessary, but I understand the student want for it being public.
“At the end of the day, it’s their student dollars.”
