Veto on meeting minutes overturned

Students will now have access to minutes from all student government meetings, following the passage of a bill by Student Congress aimed at improving transparency.

This bill, which requires all student government meeting minutes to be posted online within a seven-day period, was originally vetoed by Student Body President Will Leimenstoll.

But Leimenstoll’s veto was overridden Tuesday night by a vote of 24-2-1 at a meeting of the full Student Congress.

The bill’s author, Speaker Pro-Tempore Connor Brady, said he was confused about the reasons behind Leimenstoll’s decision.

“These minutes should exist,” Brady said. “The only thing this bill required was for these minutes to be put online so students can get to them. That’s all. It’s something that we should have been doing a long time ago.”

Leimenstoll said his veto was the result of a misunderstanding.

He said his only concern was the broad wording in the bill.

“I initially vetoed the bill out of concern about the extremely vague definition of a ‘meeting’ in N.C. laws and the lack of a definition in the Student Code,” Leimenstoll said.

He asked Student Congress to consider creating more legislation to clearly define the term.

Chairman of the rules and judiciary committee Travis Crayton, said the term is already defined.

“It’s my job to know the Code, and I can assure you that this bill doesn’t change what was already defined in the code as to what a ‘meeting’ is,” Crayton said. “The reasons for the veto don’t align with what the bill actually does.”

Wes Hodgin, one of the two dissenters to overturning the veto, shared Leimenstoll’s concerns.

“I think the definition of a student government meeting in the bill is too vague and could have negative repercussions of decreasing the efficiency of the government system,” Hodgin said.

Hodgin also said he was concerned that members of student government would not be able to hold private meetings without making the minutes public record.

“Not everything that goes on behind the scenes should be subject to public discretion,” Hodgin said.

Despite his concerns, Leimenstoll apologized for the misunderstanding.

“I agree with the overarching goal of the legislation,” he said.

While an official timeline has not been established, Brady said Student Congress is currently in the process of uploading its meeting minutes.

Once uploaded, Student Congress’ minutes will be accessible to the public at congress.unc.edu.

After the bill was approved by an overwhelming majority, Brady thanked the other members of Student Congress.

“In my opinion, anyone should be able to go online and look at what your government is up to,” he said.

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.