The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Carri C. during the 2007-2008 League.
Senate Session and Committee Meeting
I decided to attend a Senate Legislative Session and a Senate Committee Meeting. Since I was going to be a "Senator"on Week 2 at SSI camp, and I thought it would give me a heads up on what I would be doing. As I walked in I could hear them calling the Senators to order and the Secretary giving the count of those present. They began with the amendments first. Short comments were given about different Senate bills to either adopt them or advance them to the 3rd reading. An example was SB 1309 Item 076, to have dental offices install Dental Almalgum Separators. These would help protect the public health. This bill was advanced to the 3rd reading.
When the amendments were finished Senator Cassis called an immediate caucus of all the Republicans. During the long wait, visitors in the balcony were introduced, one group gave a demonstration but were quickly reprimanded. When the Republicans returned, Senator Cropsey moved that they go to resolutions. These were introduced and sometimes amendments were given and asked to be adopted, all of the resolutions given were adopted. After this, Senate Bills had a 3rd reading and their passage was voted on, all the bills that were read were passed with 37 ayes and 0 nays. Statements were then made by Senators Scott, Basham, Switalski, Gleason, and Birkholz. One senator even made statements such as "I am a Christian", and "The book I study is the Bible". Which was really cool, he used his position in the government to witness. And with those statements done, the meeting was adjourned. It was a little difficult to keep up and understand what they were doing, it went at a fast pace.
My mother and I then walked through the Capitol, admiring it, until the Committee Meeting started. The meeting was even more interesting because my senator, Mark Shauer, was in the meeting. On one side of the table there were Senators Shauer and Jacobs, and on the other side there were Senators Janson and Brown. As usual, the meeting was called to order and the Clerk took the roll. The meeting was about Senate Bill 1276, which would require the State Police to provide assistance to protect the integrity of the election process. The first lobbyist was Doug Novak, who was for the bill. The Senators asked many questions to clear up how election ballots were packaged and delivered. And when Novak was asked what problem the bill would fix, he said it would help avoid confusion in handling the ballots. Following Mr. Novak was Rich Robinson. He was also for the bill. His speech was short and few questions were asked. After him, a State Police Officer spoke against the bill. He said that the State Police has fewer officers than the year before, and that they could not commit large numbers of officers to one specific area, leaving all other areas unmanned. He also said that the bill was not needed. The sponsor of the bill, Senator McManus, said that they would work on it over the summer to work out the problems, but asked to move the bill on. Senator Jansen made the motion and Senator Brown seconded the motion. Everyone but Senator Shauer voted yes, and so the bill continued.
I really enjoyed watching both of these meetings. With each activity I observe that has to do with government, I get more excited. I never realized how interesting government was until I went to SSI.
