Every Wednesday night, ASUO’s student senate holds meetings at 7 p.m. in the Miller Room of the EMU. During these meetings, ASUO discusses senate matters, holds a 30-minute public forum and rules on transfer and surplus requests from ASUO-approved student groups.

Surplus requests are the reason many ASUO-approved student groups are able to invite speakers, host events and hold workshops. According to student senate treasurer Daniel Teo, ASUO traditionally approves requests they view as beneficial to the UO community.

“It could be a conference or a retreat, but it is more likely to be approved if it benefits the UO community as a whole,” Teo said. “In the end, it is up to the Senate to decide what to spend the surplus funds on.”

At the beginning of the year, the surplus budget is created from the money that was not spent during the previous year. Last year, the I-Fee budget had enough money left over to make up one-third of the current year’s surplus budget. The other two-thirds of the surplus budget this year came from the Programs Finance Committee’s leftover funds.

In a decision made by ASUO’s executive and senate, a part that would go towards funding surplus requests went toward filling this year’s deficit. To balance out the deficit, ASUO leadership also used money from the Women’s Center and the prudent reserve, which is a reserve of money taken out of the I-Fee budget for emergency spending.

“The total amount that the Senate utilized from surplus to cover the deficit was $88,783,” said Senate President Isaiah Boyd. “This was combined with $25,000 from the Women’s Center and $159,968 from the prudent reserve to balance out the total deficit of $276,751.”

Related: “Finding the Money: ASUO continues to spend despite a deficit”

The surplus process begins with individual student groups. It is up to them to fill out a surplus request. This request first goes through ASUO’s financial controllers: students who ensure that the request aligns with the given group’s mission statement. These controllers act as ASUO’s ‘check and balance’ on surplus and budget matters, according to Teo.

The next step typically depends on the amount being requested. If the surplus request exceeds $999, then representatives from the group are required, per the ASUO Constitution, to meet with a student senator. 

If the request is approved by a senator or is less than $999, it is the senate president’s job to place it on the student senate meeting agenda. Within a few weeks, the motion is brought in front of the student senate. According to Teo, most motions are not approved in full; rather, they go through multiple edits in order to ensure a balanced amount is distributed.

A recent surplus request in the sum of $300 from the International Business and Economics Club was brought to the floor Wednesday. The reason for the surplus request was to allow a select few members to travel to Seattle for multiple networking opportunities.

“We’ve only made one previous request so far this year,” Kristen Adams, the vice president of IBEC said. “That request was for a guest speaker to come to campus.”

In the meeting with the student senate, Adams said that students would likely have to pay out of pocket for the opportunity if the senate did not approve the surplus. After a few questions from senators, the motion passed in favor of allocating funds to the IBEC.