In full transparency

An act to make legislation “public” to students

The Student Government Association created the Legislation Transparency Act in Spring 2024 to keep students up to date with the organization.

Skyler Howell, senator At-Large for Edinburg, said the act “is the biggest step” the SGA has taken to bring transparency to the group.

“Now, students will no longer have to ask, ‘What is our student government doing for us, what type of legislation are they writing?’” Howell said.

He said students can access the approved legislation by visiting the SGA V Link page and scrolling down to the documents.

“It’ll give you a spreadsheet of all the legislation that has been written over the past year,” Howell said. 

The senator At-Large said the purpose of the student government is to serve and represent the student body.

“The problem is that, for most students oftentimes, they either don’t know what the student government is or they don’t know what we do for them,” Howell said. “And so, we really need to work on bridging that gap … between the student body and the student government. And that comes from being transparent.” 

He said the SGA should and is taking initiative to help bring in a connection with the students.

“That way, students can be more informed and more aware of what we’re able to do for them,” Howell said.

Criminal justice junior Roxanne Escamilla said SGA and the Transparency Act are useful resources for students.

“I think it’s a perfect way for students to be heard, especially with any news that they are looking for, which makes it much easier to communicate and find answers faster,” Escamilla said.

Mechanical engineer junior Neida Ozuna said she has not interacted with the SGA.

“I think they do a pretty good job,” Ozuna said. “… It’s cool to involve students even though they’re not directly linked. Like, it’s cool for us to actually see our opinions be heard.”

Howell said the act can create a chain reaction for more legislation to be created.

“It will incentivize some of our senators to write more legislation knowing that the students are going to see it,” he said. “I think it’ll motivate them to write more and, of course, the more legislation that’s written, that means the more issues that we’re addressing.”

Howell said in the previous semester, SGA was the most active in creating legislation, compared to previous times.

“But it’s not just about how many legislation is going out,” he said. “It’s about what we’re writing. … We’re going to continue to try to find new ways to connect with the student body or also address certain issues.”