Kirk Mottram and Jason Freund 17

The newest student trustee bill, which would retain popular elections of the position, passed the Illinois House Friday and will be put to the test in the Senate next week, where it also is expected to pass.

State Sen. Stan Weaver, R-Urbana, said he will file a motion to concur with House Bill 2364, which passed the House 115-2. Weaver, co-sponsor of the bill, expects a full vote in the last three days of veto session between Nov. 12 and Nov. 14, during which time he predicts successful passage.

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It’ll pass, Weaver said. A lot of different people had different versions of the student trustee bill. We had one and Gov. (Jim) Edgar had one, and now we’ve got a good bill that’s already passed in the House.

Weaver also said that if HB 2364 passes the Senate and Edgar decides to veto it, he immediately will file an override.

Edgar, at a Monday stop in Carbondale, reiterated his stance on the student trustee issue, saying that he still favors screening committees over popular elections for student trustees.

Edgar also said that, though he is aware of the recent developments of HB 2364 in the House, he has not decided on a course of action if the bill ultimately reaches his desk.

From my understanding, the bill hasn’t passed (the Senate) yet, Edgar said. We really just want to see what happens now, and then if it passes we’ll look at it carefully and make a decision.

HB 2364 is the result of an extensive bipolar debate on the function and selection process of student trustees. The original bill, House Bill 923, sponsored by Weaver in the Senate and Rep. Rick Winkel, R-Champaign, in the House, was designed to give student trustees a binding vote on their respective boards while retaining the practice of campus elections.

Edgar rejected the bill with an amendatory veto July 31, citing the need for screening committees to replace the elections as the selection mechanism. In opposition to the veto, student leaders mounted an aggressive lobbying effort Oct. 9 in an attempt to persuade legislators to push for an override. Instead of an override, Winkel introduced a new bill mirroring HB 923. However, in a surprising move, Rep. Gary Hannig, D-Gillespie, also introduced new legislation reflecting Edgar’s changes.

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Because Hannig’s bill was filed a week earlier, the House Higher Education Subcommittee called the bill first on Oct. 28. Student leaders from six schools immediately hit the pavement and lobbied to quash or amend the bill. As a result, the committee unanimously voted to amend the bill by striking the line about screening committees and replacing it with Winkel’s election item.

Following the vote, the amended bill was scheduled a second hearing in the full House, where it passed Friday. The bill now faces Senate approval.

State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, does not have an opinion about the bill because he has not examined it yet.

Before I say one thing and regret saying it, Luechtefeld said, I’ll have to look at the amendatory veto and the amendment.

Garrett Deakin, SIU legislative liaison, said the University does not have an official opinion about the new bill either. However, the administration opposed the original language of HB 923 and lobbied on behalf of Edgar’s amendatory veto. Deakin disagreed with Weaver, saying that HB 2364 still faces an uphill battle in the Senate.

It’s up to the General Assembly, Deakin said. It’s going to take an extraordinary amount of effort to get it passed during the veto session.