After being passed by the UOSA Graduate Student Senate Sunday evening, the True Democracy Act of 2009 will change how petitions regarding recall and constitutional amendments are accepted and approved by the UOSA General Counsel.

“We are trying to close some loopholes created by the recent [UOSA] Superior Court ruling,” Student Congress Vice Chairman Matt Gress said.

The recent Superior Court ruling stated a students have the right to recall a member of UOSA who is not in their district, and if an election is uncontested, a student may propose an amendment to the UOSA constitution with a single signature.

“When you recall a UOSA official, it is serious,” Gress said. “This is nothing to play around with, and when it comes to constitutional amendments, the floodgates have already opened.”

Gress said seven constitutional amendments have already been proposed to be considered on the UOSA spring 2010 election ballot.

The True Democracy Act of 2009 is a series of two bills. One bill would amend the UOSA Constitution to allow only students to recall members of UOSA they are eligible to vote on, and would reduce the number of signatures required to submit a petition to 10 percent of eligible voters in the district of the representative in question. The second would amend the UOSA code annotated to have certain requirements for all petitions regarding UOSA.

“We don’t need people proposing drastic change to student government with only one signature,” Gress said. “I’ve also spoken with people who filed the recall petitions, and they told me that they weren’t expecting anyone to really be recalled, they were just trying to make a point. Folks, that is not what a recall petition is used for, and we need to change the process.”

Gress accepted a friendly amendment that states “the UOSA General Counsel must approve a petition within a reasonable amount of time.”

Both bills passed by consent. The bill regarding recall jurisdiction will be placed on the spring 2009 General Election ballot, and the overall petition requirements will go into effect when UOSA President Katie Fox signs the bill into law.