The Undergraduate Student Government senate rejected senate bill 144-08 by a vote of nine ayes to three nays — with 10 ayes being necessary to pass — Tuesday night. The bill would have updated the USG programming department bylaws to implement a more rigorous approval process. Senators Patrick Nguyen, Jeremiah Boisrond and Brandon Tavakoli voted nay.

The original version of SB 144-08 — which was presented at the Sept. 24 senate meeting — outlined requirements for new assemblies to show how they represent an underrepresented student community or identity, demonstrate a lack of sufficient resources or support currently on campus and explain how their mission differs from existing USG programming assemblies. According to USG’s chief programming officer and the author of SB 144-08, Hunter Black, the bill passed the programming vote of confidence with 90% approval.

To prove its mission, the proposed assembly would have to pass a majority vote by the USG executive cabinet, excluding the chief programming officer and speaker of the senate, the bill said.

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After multiple senators voiced concerns about the bill’s initial language when it was initially presented, Black amended the bill to add a petition element before the vote Tuesday. Under the new wording, if the party petitioning for the assembly’s creation felt the executive cabinet wasn’t impartial in their decision, they could appeal to the judicial council for review. An appeal could also be made if the petitioning party felt the decision was made incorrectly based on merit.

An amendment was also added to make the executive cabinet’s vote public.

This new process would be in addition to the existing process that includes a two-thirds vote of confidence by USG’s programming assemblies, a signature-gathering process, a senate vote and establishing a trial period.

“This bill was done with the intention to ensure that all parties involved in USG have a say within the assembly incorporation process,” Black said.

In discussion on the bill, Tavakoli asked whether current assemblies could block the incorporation of new programming assemblies based on potential funding cuts if new assemblies were added.

“There is no necessary reason for a marginalized group to put down another marginalized group because they feel that they have a lack of sufficient resources,” Black said in response to Tavakoli.

In response, Nguyen said he recalled a sentiment among assemblies during the approval process for last year’s USG budget — which cut funding from some programming assemblies — that the incorporation of new assemblies led to the cuts.

USG vice president Brianna Sánchez said the cuts were made due to leftover funding stemming from programming assemblies rather than the incorporation of new ones. Black said he did not hear that sentiment during the programming assembly vote of confidence on SB 144-08.

Boisrond asked if a future administration could use the “broad” language of the bill to strike down all proposed programming assemblies.

“These terms were made broad because the definition of a marginalized group is always changing,” Black said. “It’s always being redefined by the current times, and … [defining marginalized groups] would just cause it to be more limited.”

During the meeting’s open forum and discussion sections, two programming assemblies voiced concerns about being heard by the legislative branch.

Cameron Bassett, a co-executive director of the Black Student Assembly, said the relationship between programming assemblies and the legislative branch feels “disingenuous.”

“It just feels like [senators are] using our roots to scapegoat, to boost, whatever you’re trying to do, which I feel is very shady,” Bassett said.

However, much of the discussion period’s time revolved around USG’s recognition of October as Disability Awareness Month in SB 144-09, which passed unanimously Oct. 1. The bill was co-written by senators Jackalyn Karamanougian and Tavakoli as well as USG’s accessibility committee chair Izzy Del Gaudio. SB 144-09 was sponsored by six other senators.

Gwendolyn Smith, the co-director of the Student Assembly for Accessibility, said she felt disabled voices were being treated as an “afterthought” due to October being recognized as National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

“We were told that this decision was well researched, yet it’s hard for us to trust that when we weren’t a part of the research process to begin with. Why was the Student Assembly for Accessibility not included in this decision-making process?” Smith said. “This decision undermines the significance of a disability awareness month.”

Karamanougian said the bill’s purpose was not to align with the national month, but to create a month where students with disabilities are recognized by USC. She said eliminating “employment” from the month’s title allows it to apply to all community members.

“The bill, if you read it, had nothing to do with National Disability Employment Awareness Month,” Del Gaudio said. “It had to do with our institution being so big and so influential, yet we lack even acknowledging a month, just a simple month, for students [with disabilities].”

Smith said March is typically recognized as Disability Awareness Month while being nationally recognized as Developmental Disability Awareness Month.

“Developmental disabilities, by nature, [are] any disability that affects your mobility or ability to access public spaces, education, etc,” said Klarissa Palacios, the former chair of USG’s affordability and basic needs committee.

Palacios was recently removed as the chair of the committee based on reports of violations of the USG bylaws and code of ethics, USG president Bryan Fernández wrote in a statement to the Daily Trojan. An appeal process is currently underway.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines developmental disabilities as conditions that begin “during the child’s developmental period, [which] may impact day-to-day functioning, and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime.”

Smith said she didn’t know why the senate hasn’t issued an apology for “its handling of recent issues” yet. 

“It was extremely insulting to hear [senators] explain my own disability and history to me, and I don’t understand why I have to plead for an apology,” Smith said.

During discussion, Boisrond said he “regret[s] sponsoring” the bill, while speaker of the senate Diana Carpio affirmed her support.

The senate also heard a presentation from Sánchez, who talked about upcoming projects.