The first bill, Bill 54-02, appointed directors within ASMSU. President Lorenzo Santavicca said he believes the appointees will perform their duties well.

“I’m thoroughly excited,” Santavicca said. “This group of directors and SAB members that were all appointed tonight truly represent what we want to be in this organization: interested individuals, dedicated individuals, and people that are serving students. That’s the best part. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they’re going to produce for us.”

Bill 53-03, the second bill passed, addressed appointments to the Student Allocations Board. The Student Allocations Board decides how funds will be disbursed to student groups. Vice President of the board Stephen Brown said the different perspectives brought to the board will help create a successful year. 

“I think the greatest thing the board members add is they all have a different level of experience and they all reflect different areas of the student body at Michigan State,” Brown said. 

The Student Allocations Board also explained its new Registered Student Organization Consulting program. Brown says the program aims to help groups seeking event funding to meet ASMSU’s standard before approaching the board.

“RSO Consulting is going to work as a way to pre-check your event to make sure it follows Student Allocation’s Board rules,” Brown said. “Separate from Student Allocations Board, RSO Consulting is going to act as a consultant if you need help on how to run a good meeting or if you need help to manage your finances outside of this event, or if you need information on marketing.”

Santavicca detailed plans to hold a forum to educate students on how the university’s budget works and why tuition has been raised for the past eight years. 

“We want to do a forum where students can understand the budget, ask their questions, and understand that the general fund and the athletic fund are separate,” he said.

Santavicca also expressed the organization’s hope to offer incentives in return for student’s answering surveys on their experience with ASMSU’s services.

“We are going to be surveying the student body this year like crazy, and we’ve got some pretty good incentives. Like, ‘Who here wants to win a power scooter that they can ride around this campus to class?’” Santavicca said. “We want to collect data about our services, the advocacy work that we do, and what students are saying today. We need to modernize student government, and it’s starting today.”

The meeting also featured speaker CATA CEO Brad Funkhouser, who informed the group on ongoing transportation developments in East Lansing. 

The next ASMSU general assembly meeting will be held on Sept. 14 in the Student Services building.