At its last meeting of the semester, the Residence Halls Association decided to undertake a rather large issue - the General Assembly voted on restructuring all four standing committees.
The bill, which passed the assembly, 17-0-2, Wednesday, will take effect in the fall. The two special committees, advocacy and structure, will be dissolved, and their responsibilities will be shared among the four standing committees.
Budget, policy, programming and outreach, and diversity committees will become the Committee on Budget, the Committee on Internal Affairs, the Committee on Resident Housing Issues and the Committee on Diversity and Community Advocacy.
Williams Hall representative Tom Edwards, who authored the bill, said he had worked on it for more than a year, and the current policy committee debated its parameters.
"It will make (the committees) more stable," he said.
The Committee on Budget had the most changes. Instead of passing student groups' requests for money on to the assembly, the committee now has the power to approve or deny requests on its own.
The assembly does, however, have oversight over grants greater than $500. By a one-third vote, the assembly can review any decision made by the committee.
In addition, at least half of the assembly's discretionary fund will be reserved for groups that hold a seat on RHA and their affiliates.
"It's in the spirit of keeping money close" to the organization, Edwards said.
The maximum amount of money any group can receive in a semester from RHA is $2,000.
The assembly also passed a tentative budget for the summer semester. The budget, which stands at almost $16,000, includes office maintenance, equipment for the RHA Movie Offices, and Campus Center Cinemas in Wells Hall.
Also at the meeting, the organization's bylaws were amended to govern movies that are donated to the Movie Offices. The bill, introduced by Spectrum, is in response to a number of movies that went to the offices during MSU Pride Week. The offices' directors now have the ability to approve or deny donations and, if applicable, charge a small amount per movie for display costs.
Spectrum is the caucus of lesbian, bi, gay and transgender students in East Complex.
The assembly also voted in favor of allowing people outside the assembly to speak on items pertinent to the agenda. Taxpaying members of RHA will be allowed two minutes to speak, at the discretion of the president.
