The Undergraduate Student Government senate met Tuesday night to hear presentations from vice president Michelle Lu and chief of staff David Martinez, and declared March 5 a USG holiday.

In her presentation, Lu said USG’s subsidized sexually transmitted infection testing through Student Health will begin Feb. 10.

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In November, USG allocated $7,500 to fund one month of free STI testing for students through Student Health.

Lu also said USG would fund the creation of a second RestSC location in the Library for International and Public Affairs, opening in February. Senior executive aide and RestSC lead Sanjana Sambhwani said USG had spent “close to $3,000” on the space. 

In April 2023, USG and the Graduate Student Government funded the creation of a RestSC space in the University Religious Center. The area will include rest spaces as well as lockers for students to store their items as they rest.

Additionally, Lu’s presentation included information about the medical supply vending machine installed at USC Village and a second vending machine to be installed in the Royal Street Parking Structure. 

Lu said the vending machine will be restocked by the USC Health Center Pharmacy. The vending machine includes Claritin, Tylenol, Narcan and subsidized emergency contraception.

Through the vending machine, students will be able to access emergency contraception for five dollars subsidized by both USG and the USC Health Center Pharmacy. 

Senators asked Lu about the safety of dispensing medication through the vending machine. Lu said student IDs will be used to prevent dispensing too much medication within a period of time. 

Lu said she had campaigned for the senate on accessibility of medical supplies and this was her third year working on the project.

“I just want to say that a lot of things in USG take a very long time to bring to fruition, so with a lot of hard work, reaching out to admin … you can totally get whatever done,” Lu said.

The senate also heard from Martinez about USG’s plans for the Spring 2024 Involvement Fair from Jan. 23 through Jan. 25. Martinez said that USG hopes to have representatives of the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters at the involvement fair to answer questions and help students register to vote.

Chief diversity officer Kaleb Stephens presented on the advocacy department’s projects, including efforts by Queer and Ally Student Assembly advocacy liaison Isabel Jasper to increase gender-neutral housing options and by Native American Student Assembly advocacy liaison Zidane Zamorano to create student training on Indigenous land in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, senator Halle Schaffer announced Los Angeles Local Business Day during her presentation. The event — scheduled for April 9th — will include vendors from South Central at McCarthy Quad. 

“We are going to be bringing different vendors to USC’s campus from the [South Central] community to hopefully foster more interaction between USC and our surrounding community members,” Schaffer said.

The senate’s only new business was the passage of Senate Bill 143-23, A Bill to Recognize the Primary Election Day as a USG Holiday. 

Under the bill, the senate’s March 5 meeting will be canceled, as will requirements that USG officers serve office hours on that day.

In November 2022, the senate passed SB 142-31, canceling the senate’s meeting during the 2022 midterm elections. In March 2021, the senate passed SB 141-03, a Resolution In Support of Making Election Day a Non-Instructional Day at USC.

Martinez — who presented the bill and is part of a working group with members of the Center for the Political Future and University Relations — described voting options for the March primary. 

Martinez said that the Health Sciences Campus will have a ballot drop box and a mobile vote center. He also said that University Park Campus will have a ballot drop box and a voting center at USC Village. The voting center will allow students to vote early.

At the end of the meeting, senator Diana Carpio said that the laundry stipend project, which opened applications last Thursday, had received 450% of their capacity to provide WASH-Connect cards. The application will close this Thursday.