In a year of increased demand from student groups for funding, the ASUC Senate passed a bill Wednesday night to replenish the contingency fund with $10,000 from its reserve fund.
The ASUC had originally allocated $24,000 to the contingency fund in its 2010-11 budget, but this amount was not sufficient to cover student group needs.
“There really isn’t enough money to pass bills next week,” said co-author of the bill and Independent Senator Nairi Shirinian.
The ASUC voted to suspend bylaws to immediately consider the bill — SB 141 — early in the meeting, where it passed unanimously.
The initial amount of money in the fund was not expected to last the entire semester, according to CalSERVE Senator Andrew Albright, leading to this first replenishment.
“In the past, the senate has done a lot of replenishing,” Albright said.
Money from the contingency fund goes towards student organizations for various projects, programs and activities, according to the bill.
More replenishments are expected.
“We’re probably going to have to replenish at least two more times,” Shirinian said. “In the spring we have a lot more requests because organizations throw a lot of fundraisers then.”
According to Albright, the goal of the ASUC this year is to match the spending of last year’s senate. Last year, the ASUC transferred $8,000 from the reserve, known as the Carry Forward Fund, to the contingency fund during the fall semester.
“The difference between last year and this year is that we have gotten a lot more bills asking for a lot more money,” Albright said. “We didn’t believe $8,000 would do it.”
Recognized student groups receive an annual allocation of the ASUC’s budget, but they may apply for additional funding from the contingency fund on a case-by-case basis. Student groups that do not receive an annual allocation may also apply to the contingency fund, according to ASUC Executive Vice President Chris Alabastro.
A lot of groups originally did not receive the amount of funding they expected and not many repeals were filed, which has lead to an increase of requests, according to Shirinian. At this point, a substantial amount of groups have requested the full amount — $1,500 — that can be allotted in one bill.
The reserve fund is expected to have around $300,000 to $350,000 in it, but the specific amount is not known, according to Albright.
“Whatever (funds are) left over from the budgeting process goes to the Carry Forward Fund,” Alabastro said.
The funds from business operations also go to the Carry Forward Fund.
However, recently business operations have run a deficit, so no surplus money has been going into the Carry Forward Fund, according to Alabastro.
According to Alabastro, the Lower Sproul renovation project will hopefully increase revenue for ASUC.
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