Student government members postponed a vote on legislation that could cut student hourly positions, after failing to come to a consensus with committee members and student organization leaders at a meeting Monday.

Various student organizations joined the Associated Students of Madison’s Student Services Finance Committee in an open forum to discuss what the revisions of the proposed Segregated Fee Changes legislation are, why they are being made, and how they will impact the organizations on campus.

“The plan of the legislation is to increase access, fairness, and flexibility to any student org that requests funding,” said SSFC Rep. Ronald Crandall.

Crandall proposed the legislation and said the point of his proposal was to eliminate the separation between SSFC and ASM’s Finance Committee. He said having one place for budgets and funding discussions allows a compromise and saves student organizations the trouble to go through two different committees about the same thing.

Representatives from student organizations such as Sex Out Loud, Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group and the Campus Women’s Center asked for more time to discuss the proposal with SSFC in order to come to a conclusion and to review what the legislation will do.

The main issues these groups expressed regarding the legislation was that it cuts student hourly positions for organizations.

“Paid incentives ensure accountability and commitment, encourage high quality work, and they foster a diverse set of staff members who are drawn to paid work on campus because they don’t have time to volunteer 10-20 hours a week,” Sex Out Loud staff representative Sam Johnson, who also writes for The Badger Herald, said.

Johnson said student organizations provide services that enrich students’ “Wisconsin Experience.” She said wages for students helps keep these organizations around, adding Sex Out Loud would not survive without paid staff.

She added she also takes issue with the outreach process of the legislation. 

“We need to have these conversations. Who is reaching out to us, the people who will be affected the most?” she asked. “Why isn’t there a town meeting that talks about this”?

SSFC Rep. Jeremy Levinger said he agrees with Johnson that the outreach was not good enough and that the legislation seems rushed.

Crandall said he felt he gave ample outreach by utilizing blogs, email, other student councils on campus.

“Student councils seem to be in favor of this funding…orgs will have more access to funding than before,” Crandall said. 

He added that he would love to see a debate on the issue.

The committee did not come to a consensus after its discussion with the student organizations and with each other. The committee tabled the legislation until Monday, April 1.

SSFC also voted on the transportation budget which was proposed at a meeting last week. SSFC approved the $4,292,000 budget with a vote of nine to three.

“I think voting this budget down would be a bad idea. Students voted yes in a survey we gave out, and we should go with how they voted,” Levinger said of the budget.