The Student Senate sent three bills back to committee with a majority vote during Wednesday night’s meeting.

These bills included the Frisbee Golf Course bill ($15,000), the University Board productions bill ($7,447) and the computer bill ($1,500). Along with these bills, two other bills were brought before the senate all regarding the student activities reserve account.

Paul McCann, interim vice president for business affairs, spoke to the members of the Student Senate about the five bills and the misinterpretation regarding having to spend the student activities reserve account.

McCann said the requirement to spend down excessive university funds is from the Legislative Audit Commission and its guidelines. This was created in 1982 to protect the taxpayer and the student by not allowing the universities to put more money into their accounts than is necessary to run the university.

He said the student activities reserve account ($40,346) is only about 10 percent of the total amount of student fees that are still floating ($500,000). This amount is a small percentage of Eastern’s $195 million budget, and there are other areas included in this budget. Funds are still available to be eliminated from these areas.

“(The) student insurance fee is included in this, and there are constantly people getting sick and people going to the doctor and applying for this money,” McCann said. ‘We have a number of projects going on that involve the campus improvement fee.

“Because of this, the chances of any one group losing their money is slim to none, but we want to make sure that everyone knows there is a potential risk of losing the money out there. So, don’t spend the money just to spend it, still use good business sense.”

By sending the bills back to committee, the members of the senate have given the bill back to the Apportionment Board for them to discuss further.

Student Senate member Chris Kromphardt felt this was the correct way to proceed with the bills.

“I feel that the bills should be sent back to (the) AB because the circumstances have changed so drastically,” Kromphardt said. “Things like the computer are important, but we didn’t view them as this important until we were faced with this situation.”

Unlike last week, the AB will approach the Frisbee Golf Course bill, the UB productions bill, and the computer bill tomorrow under a non-pressing pretense.

The UB Marketing Software bill ($300) and the Student Recreation Center Equipment bill were also brought before the senate regarding the funds in the student activities reserve account. These were both passed as additional allocations.

In other business, two line item transfers were approved, including UB movies and UB lectures.

Also, a bylaw change for the housing committee has been tabled for next week.

Kayleigh Zyskowski can be reached at 581-7942 or at kzyskowski@eiu.edu.