The AS Senate is a group of elected student representatives which serves as the policy-making body of Associated Students. Every Wednesday at 6:30 PM, the AS Senate convenes to pass bills and resolutions, hear reports from Boards, Committees, and Units (BCUs), and hold public forum.
KCSB’s Tatiana Jacquez brings you a recap of their latest meeting on January 14th, 2026.
- The Long Awaited Bike Path Update!:
- Interim Chief of Police, Matthew Bly, visited the AS Senate to update on the ILP/Library.
- Passed 1590 warnings and 10 citations for bike violations on campus, which can be waived with an online course or a 40 dollar administrative fee.
- Bike Committee Co-Chairs Rita Kharadjian and Anthony Woo gave a report on the Bike Path Plans, which have been funded through rollover funds from the Bike Committee Lock-in Fee and Campus Discretionary income.
- The Total cost is around 1.4 million dollars
- The next steps for the project is to secure campus sign-offs and get regulatory approvals from the California Coastal Commission and Goleta Water District.
- Interim Chief of Police, Matthew Bly, visited the AS Senate to update on the ILP/Library.
- Micah Littlepage, a peer advisor at the Veterans Resource Center, gave public comment regarding the Mobility Transport Program, requesting funding to expand the program. As of now, the program is set to run out of funding by the end of the school year, and cannot pay staff or pay to maintain and upkeep the vehicles. The program currently faces cuts, and is searching for a more permanent way to fund its operations.
- Alex Borgas presented CALPIRG’s priority campaign to protect the ocean and establish more marine protected areas.
- Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Suzanne Perkin, proposed the “Save Student Services” fee increase campaign, looking to increase funding for services as they’ve begun to retract due to lack of money.
- Interim Chief of Police Matthew Bly alongside the EVPLA’s office and AS Take Back the Night are creating a temporary Student Safety Committee to address concerns of student safety. UCPD is currently considering the use of cameras to monitor spots on campus that experience higher rates of crimes and violence.
- The Senate entered closed session to discussion AS spending and BCU structuring.
- Allocations from this meeting include:
- Senators approved $7,000 for Winter Quarter’s the Senate Weekly Dinners.
- The Senate allocated an estimated $105,998.81 & $37,000 respectively from CoVo & CMG rollover funds to be administered by Finance Committee. CoVo and CMG are inactive and lack a Board under AS.
- The Senate passed/adopted the following pieces of legislation:
- A Resolution Condemning the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors’ Decision to Approve the “Deltopia Noise Ordinance” (Luken – Hepburn): The Senators voted in favor of this positional resolution, condemning the decision by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to approve the noise ordinance, ignoring Isla Vista residents’ vocal opposition and the lack of buy-in from residents the ordinance directly impacts.
- A Bill to Institutionalize Rate My Landlord Developers Within the Associated Students Office of the External Vice President for Local Affairs (Luken – Hepburn): This Bill would merge the RateMyLandlord project under the EVPLA Office, and adding a student developer team of 6 positions.
- A Bill To Clean Up Legal Code (Sussman – Pascher – Luken): This bill will remove hundreds of pages of Legal Code, eliminating unnecessary clauses, bylaws, and sentences deemed unnecessary and redundant. Senator Sussman, alongside other Senators like Senators Pascher and Luken, and members of the Outreach Committee played a role in creating and reworking this bill. The bill passed unanimously.
