SGA Standing Rules

The SGA Standing Rules may be changed in accordance with the SGA By-Laws

I. Executive Branch

1. Meetings and Attendance

   1. When the General Assembly begins to hold regular sessions, members of the Executive Branch must attend a closed Executive Committee meeting weekly, time and day to be determined based upon class schedules, excluding finals week, winter break, spring break, and the summer session.

   2. All members of the Executive Branch must attend every meeting of the General Assembly.  Failure to attend Senate meetings shall result in an absence being recorded for the member.  If the member is called before the Internal Affairs Committee, this committee will determine the validity of the absence.

   3. If a member of the Executive Branch is found to have three (3) unexcused absences in a given term, they shall be notified in writing by the Chair of the Internal Affairs Committee that they must appear before the Internal Affairs Committee at its next regularly scheduled meeting to appeal such absences. For each subsequent absence, the member shall be required to appear before the Internal Affairs Committee.  In the absence of the Chief Justice, the Associate Chief Justice will assume the role of the Internal Affairs Chairman.

   4. The Internal Affairs Committee is the duly appointed body responsible for determining the validity of absences and as such has final authority in determining the validity and in recommending sanctions.

      There shall be mandatory attendance for Major Events defined under Article XII of the SGA Constitution.

   5. A Senator may be excused under extenuating circumstances pending an approval of said excuse by the head of Internal Affairs. Failure to attend an aforementioned event without an excused absence will result in two (2) absences to be placed on the Senator’s record.

2. Office Hours

   1. All members of the Executive Branch must be present in the office a minimum of five (5) hours per week for the fall and spring semesters, excluding finals week, fall break, winter break, and spring break. Regular office hours do not include Executive Committee meeting or any other time that the Executive Committee members are mandated to be present in performance of their executive role.

   2. All members of the Executive Branch must be present in the office and work on behalf of SGA during the summer session with hours to be determined in conjunction with the SGA advisor(s).

II. Legislative Branch

1. Meetings and Attendance

   1. Regularly scheduled Senate meetings will begin at 5:00 p.m. and end upon a successful motion for adjournment.

   2. Failure to attend regularly scheduled Senate Meetings will count as one (1) absence and two (2) tardiness will count as one absence.

   3. Members of the Legislative Branch may submit an excuse for any absence via a document that will be made available and maintained by the Executive Secretary. The Executive Council  will collectively decide whether or not the excuse provided is acceptable.

   4. If the Executive Council finds the excuse provided to be valid, the absence to which it applies will be marked as excused and will not need to be presented before Internal Affairs.

   5. If a member of the Legislative Branch is found to have three (3) unexcused absences in their given term, they shall be notified in writing by the Chief Justice that they must appear before the Internal Affairs Committee to appeal such absences. For each subsequent unexcused absence, the member shall be required to appear before the Internal Affairs Committee.

   6. If the Senator is called before the Internal Affairs Committee, the committee will determine the validity of the absence(s).  

   7. If the Internal Affairs Committee finds a Senator to have three unexcused absences, they will be removed from office.

   8. Should a Senator with one or more unexcused absences (as determined by the Internal Affairs Committee) miss another Senate meeting, they will be called in front of Internal Affairs again.

2. Legislation

   1. All Senators are required to submit a minimum of (1) piece of legislation per semester. This legislation must be adopted and voted upon by the Student Government Association to satisfy this requirement. If two senators co-write a piece of legislation, each will receive credit for said legislation as co-authors. Beyond two co-authors, additional senators involved will be considered sponsors unless they are freshmen. In the case that individual is a freshman, they will be considered another Co-author. Any Senator(s) who does not adhere to these requirements will be terminated from office for not upholding the requirements for service in the legislative branch of SGA.

   2. Senators submitting new legislation and amendments to current legislation must be submitted to the Chief Clerk of the Senate at least two (2) business days before the next meeting of the Senate. All newly submitted bills and resolutions must be sent to the Chief Clerk by 4:00 PM on Monday to allow adequate time for review and forwarding to the Chief Secretary.  All resubmitted or reformatted bills and resolutions must be received by the Chief Clerk no later than 5:00 PM on Tuesday to ensure proper adjustment, formatting, and preparation for final review.

   3. The proper form of a bill to take for presentation to the Senate is as follows (the term bill refers to any formal piece of legislation):

      1. Title: summarizes the intent of the bill.  The title should be brief, but must cover the major points of the bill.  The first words of the title should be, “An act to…” or “A resolution to…” or “An amendment to…”

      2. Clauses: must be either explanatory or supporting in the form of “Whereby…” or “Whereas…”

      3. Clauses: must be either enacting, amending, or resolving clause which should take the form of:  THEREFORE BE IT ENACTED/AMENDED/RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE (# of the General Assembly) GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION OF AUSTIN PEAY STATE UNIVERSITY:”

      4. Substance: the bill should be broken up into sections.  Each section should deal with a separate matter within the bill.

      5. Enactment: states when the legislation is to take place.

      6. Each bill shall only address one specific issue

3. Voting

   1. All members shall submit voting records at the end of each Senate meeting with an accurate record of their yeas and nays vote on the Legislation piece(s) voted upon at the meeting. The Speaker pro-tempore shall be responsible for maintaining these records.

   2. These records shall be made publically available after a piece of legislation has been voted upon.

III. Judicial Branch

1. Meetings and Attendance

   1. In order to conduct official business, the Student Tribunal must have at least five (5) of the seven (7) voting members present.

   2. Any justice arriving late, without prior permission from the Chief Justice or Associate Justice, shall be recorded as tardy for that meeting. 

   3. Absence from a regularly scheduled Tribunal meeting shall count as one (1) absence, two (2) tardiness shall count as one (1) absence.

   4. Members of the Judicial Branch may submit an excuse for any absence via a document that will be made available and maintained by the Executive Secretary. The EC will collectively decide whether or not the excuse provided is acceptable.

   5. If the Executive Council finds the excuse provided to be valid, the absence to which it applies will be marked as excused and will not need to be presented before Internal Affairs.

   6. If a member of the Judicial Branch is found to have three (3) unexcused absences in his/her given term, they shall be notified in writing by the Chief Justice that they must appear before the Internal Affairs Committee to appeal such absences. For each subsequent unexcused absence, the member shall be required to appear before the Internal Affairs Committee.

   7. If the Justice is called before the Internal Affairs Committee, the committee will determine the validity of the absence(s).

   8. If the Internal Affairs Committee finds a Justice to have three unexcused absences, they will be removed from office.

   9. Should a Justice with two or more unexcused absences (as determined by the Internal Affairs Committee) miss another Tribunal meeting, they will be called in front of Internal Affairs again.

   10. There shall be mandatory attendance for Major Events defined under Article XII of the SGA Constitution. A Tribunal member may be excused under extenuating circumstances pending an approval of said excuse by the head of Internal Affairs. Failure to attend an aforementioned event without an excused absence will result in two (2) absences to be placed on the Tribunal member’s record.