The Student Association is in discussion about a letter it may send to the New York State Assembly and Senate requesting that the state change its laws so ride-hailing services, such as Uber, would be legalized in Syracuse.

The SA assembly also voted at its Monday meeting in Maxwell Auditorium to package the Finance Board’s approvals, partial-approvals and denials to budget proposals for recognized student organizations for the spring 2016 semester.

Recently, SA President Aysha Seedat and Parliamentarian James Franco drafted a letter that they intend to send to the New York State Assembly and Senate, calling for the state to allow ride-hailing services to operate in New York. Currently, Uber is illegal in all of the state except New York City.

The letter lays out a number of potential benefits of having Uber. The primary benefit, Franco said, is that it would improve safety. The letter cites a 2015 report by Temple University professors Brad Greenwood and Sunil Wattal, which concluded that Uber reduced the rate of alcohol-related motor vehicle homicides in two California areas from 2009-14.

The letter also points out that Uber drivers must go through background checks, something that Franco said most people don’t realize.

The assembly did not vote Monday on whether it will send the letter to the Assembly and Senate. Franco told assembly members that they are free to make edits to the letter. Additionally, Seedat will be sending a copy of the letter to other universities in New York, allowing officials to add their own edits.

Also at Monday’s meeting, Comptroller Phil Kramer presented the Finance Board’s official budget approvals to the assembly. RSOs were required to submit budget proposals earlier this month, and the Finance Board spent the past week voting on the proposals after holding hearings with each RSO on Oct. 17 and 18.

In total, the board funded about $685,000 from the student activity fee, which is controlled by SA and the Graduate Student Organization. About $634,000 went toward different RSOs’ events, such as concerts and speakers.

The board either approved, partially-approved or denied each request made by RSOs. RSOs that requested funding for multiple events typically had some events approved and others denied.

Some RSOs, though, were completely denied on all of their requests for different reasons. Delta Kappa Alpha, for example, did not provide a proof of costs with its proposal, so the entire proposal was denied. Habitat for Humanity, meanwhile, missed its budget hearing and thus had its requests completely denied.

The Finance Board allocated about $11,000 for campus publications despite receiving about $64,000 in requests. Kramer said this was an unusually low amount for the board to allocate, but added that the board members felt the publications will still be able to operate as they currently do. The publications will have fewer copies to distribute, but SA is looking to create a centralized location for all publications to be distributed, which would ideally make it easier for students to access them.

The board will be accepting RSO appeals regarding the budget approval decisions between Monday and Thursday. RSOs can file appeals for events that were completely denied of funding.

Published on October 26, 2015 at 10:51 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu