The ASWSU senate approved its first two bills of the legislative year to modify the responsibilities of delegates and executive officers during last night’s senate meeting.

The first bill modifies the freshman delegate duties and their compensation. Freshman delegates will now hold one office hour every week and be paid for no more than four hours a week.

The bill won’t take effect until the 50th senate commencement, beginning for the 2020-21 academic year.

Connor Simmons, the College of Arts and Sciences senator, said it was fitting that this was the first bill the Senate passeds

“We’re welcoming our freshman delegates into the senate and solidifying their value,” he said.

The second bill modified the process of ASWSU executive officers reporting to the senate and will go into effect immediately.

Previously, officers had to report to the senate or a senate committee once a month. The bill changes the process to officers reporting at the senate or chief of staff, president and vice president’s will.

College of Education senator Hannah Martian said having officers report once a month occasionally felt like a waste of time, especially when they were working on time-consuming projects.

She said this middle ground of reporting still holds executive officers accountable to the senate.

The senate also approved funding of $1,200 dollars for an event that will be hosted by the Omega Delta Phi Fraternity Inc.

The event is called “Hype Knight” and will be hosted on Sept. 28 in the Ensminger Pavilion.

Eric Martinez, ODPhi Hype Night committee chair, said the event is open to all students. ODPhi chapters from Eastern Washington University, University of Idaho and the University of Washington will co-host.

Martinez said he wants students to get a feel of what the Latinx culture and multicultural Greek community is like.

“Typically, in Pullman, you don’t see much of any Latinx culture or representation of our ethnicity,” he said.

Eric Martinez and Jerry Martinez, ODPhi Hype Night committee chair, said security at the event is their highest priority and what they’re putting most of their funding in as they’re expecting around 500 attendees.

The senate held a minute of silence to honor the memory of victims and efforts of first responders during Sept. 11.

ASWSU vice president Jhordin Prescott said she attended the Black Student Union forum on Tuesday that discussed the disparity of black resident arrests from the WSU Police Department.

She said it was disheartening to see the statistics of the arrests and wants to work with the university to replace WSU police tickets with citations.

With this system, students who receive citations through campus police will not have tickets on their drivers’ records, Prescott said. The citations will have students go through the department to find out how and why citations were given and resolve any issues should they be given unfairly.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Prescott said.