The Associated Students of Madison Constitutional Committee made several amendments to the bylaws concerning its executive branch at yesterday’s meeting.

The committee debated a variety of issues including the implementation of a new position currently called “chief of staff.”

Constitutional Committee Chair Jeff Wright said the role of the chief of staff is to serve as an assistant to the president.

According to Student Judiciary Chief Justice Tre Darby, the current ASM chair and co-chair Brittany Wiegand and Hannah Karns are often busy doing the “business of the elected” and could greatly benefit from an assistant.

“When they are busy attending meetings, no one is here minding the store,” Darby said. “Someone needs to be at a high enough level that, at those times, can represent the president.”

Wright added the chief of staff will not be considered a director of cabinet and will not have the power to oversee policy or volunteers.

The intention of the position will solely be to alleviate an overload of presidential and vice presidential responsibilities and to provide technical assistance.

The Constitutional Committee also added a requirement stating any executive action will have to be posted within 48 hours, Wright said.

Wright also said any time the president makes a veto he too will be required to notify the senate within 48 hours.

All vetoes specifically related to the budget would require the president to notify not only the senate but the Appropriations Committee as well.

“We also agreed that after the president is elected he or she will have to solicit applications for cabinet positions for at least a two-week period,” Wright said.

Wright added this will ensure the maximum amount of applicants, leading to the most experienced, well-prepared cabinet members.

The committee will be meeting this weekend to continue working on the bylaws, which must be finalized two weeks before the Feb. 26-27 vote.

From there, the finalized draft of the bylaws will be sent to the Student Council, which will vote on the approval of the bylaws for the new constitution as an advisory document to the next session of committee members.

“We can’t change all the bylaws without a new constitution,” Wright said. “And we don’t think it’s right to pass the bylaws if we aren’t the people who will be the new government.”

The bylaws will be voted on at a Feb. 4 meeting.