ASWSU Senator Joey Pacific has tackled a huge project. With the help of fellow senators, he has been hard at work simplifying ASWSU bylaws, making them easier to interpret and follow.

A member of the senate’s Internal Relations Committee, Pacific said he read through all the bylaws when he was elected. Recalling controversy stemming from unclear wording in the bylaws last year, he said he wanted to prevent that from happening again by making them more streamlined and efficient.

“I just got frustrated and realized that’s no way to run a government and hold people accountable,” he said. “Most of what we’re doing is making it simpler and redoing the structure so it’s easier to follow.”

The senate unanimously passed Bill 4104, or the “By-Law Consistency and Efficiency Amendment (Part 1)” during an Aug. 31 meeting. The amendment simplified the first section of the bylaws, Title I, that deals with bylaw authority and setup and condensed the two pages down to one by eliminating wordiness, awkward grammar and an unnecessary table of contents.

Students are more likely to get involved with ASWSU if the government’s functioning well, he said.

“ASWSU can do some really good things; we just have to get our house in order,” Pacific said.

However, he worries about keeping the bigger picture in mind while working on the bylaws.

“My worry in doing it is that I’ll be so focused on … internal things within ASWSU, that not enough for students will be done,” he said. “Because that’s really why I’m here. And so I’m working to balance laying the groundwork so future senates, or future administrations, can do good things for students and also doing good things for students now.

This week, Pacific will present his changes to the Title II bylaws to committees this week. Title II bylaws address the senate.

“My hope is to have it ready to go into first reading Wednesday and vote on it next week,” he said.

If it passes through committees, Pacific said he wants the senate to take its time with the bill because in addition to changes in grammar and organization of the bylaws, the bill would also make a few more substantial updates to the senate.

One of the biggest changes would deal with the way bills are passed in the senate. Pacific said he wants the senate to be able to pass bills that only deal with grammatical changes in one meeting while the senate would have to wait a week to pass more substantial bills.

Also, the new bill would update the bylaws regarding senator pay. Senators are now paid by the hour as opposed to receiving a stipend, and the new bylaw would reflect this.

Another problem Pacific noticed with the bylaws was an over-use of the word “committee” to refer to different groups. In the new version, some groups would be called councils, he said.

Overall, Pacific cut about a third of unnecessary wording from the bylaws that govern the senate, and he hopes to do similar work to the bylaws regarding the executive board. He said he plans to meet with Vice President Amanda Spalding Wednesday to begin revising them.

“What I’m doing is kind of boring to students, but it will allow people to do more,” he said.