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 November 19, 2025.
IV Community Services District (IVCSD) Representative, Spencer Brandt, gave a presentation on current IVCSD projects, most notably the parking enforcement and transportation initiatives implemented this year. Brandt emphasized Isla Vista’s 106% capacity rate for parking, and the enforcement program would enhance the quality of life for students in IV.
IVCSD will be launching an education campaign so residents are informed of the efforts to enforce safe parking practices through increases in fines. Many Senators expressed concerns with the program and the population it targets and will negatively impact. Senator Pascher noted that the optics of the parking enforcement program is not ideal, especially given the current housing crisis the student population faces. She inquired about the $600,000 currently allocated to enforcement efforts, and why that money wasn’t diverted to a solution. Brandt explained that the reason we have a housing crisis is due to the coastal commission’s hesitancy with providing more housing because of the limited parking available. Residents will be able to request resident-only permits within the program.
This is the first time IVCSD is enforcing parking compliance, a role that is typically designated to California Highway Patrol (CHP), whose resources are spread across California, and aren’t present often enough in IV to enforce parking regulations.
Brandt encouraged student involvement as of the utmost importance in the program, and promoted alternative forms of transportation. He introduced the Goleta Microtransit Zones through “The Wave”, with services to the airport, the Goleta Community Center, and the Goleta Train Station. The program would aim to make transportation more accessible to students without cars, and would encourage students to leave their cars at home.
During the Public Forum, former AS Chief of Finance, Aryaman Singh, gave a follow-up report on the Mapache, AI chat bot that would be on the AS website. Singh detailed his trial runs of testing the bot on a random sample population, and reported the groups that found the bot most agreeable entered prompts that had definitive answers on the website. However, because the bot doesn’t “hallucinate”, which creates often faulty answers based on available information, the bot would not give users a definitive answer to questions it didn’t know. Therefore, user satisfaction was low, and the bot’s response to questions would need tweaking. Singh emphasized his work would need funding to sustain the functionality of bot, estimating anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000 for the Mapache program. He will continue to make changes to the bot’s responses, and will report back in the weeks to come.
Internal Vice President, Enri Lala, spoke during the forum not as an AS representative, but as a student speaking in favor of the Rate My Landlord project. Lala began his public comment with a personal anecdote of his roof caving in due to leaks in the infrastructure. Prior to his roof caving in, the leaking had been so terrible, he had to sleep on the couch in his Associated Students office. He cited these conditions as negligence on the part of landlords, and his experience is not unique. Lala supports the Rate My Landlord bill presented by Senators Luken and Hepburn, in hopes that students will be able to make more informed housing decisions when researching apartments.
Notable Bills Referred to Committees:
A Bill to add the Healthcare Initiatives Coordinator to the External Vice President’s Office (Sussman- Jones): This bill was crafted at the request of the EVPLA’s office, and would create a Health Care Initiatives Coordinator to the Office of the External Vice President of Local Affairs. Responsibilities for this new position would include hosting Public Health events such as the STI Screen-a-thons, assisting in health initiatives including distribution of mold kits and water filters, amongst other duties. There would be no fiscal impacts to the bill, and would simply reallocate funds for the position. The bill was referred to Advocacy Committee.
A Bill to Modernize Honoraria (Sussman-Jones): This bill would automate the honoraria process, aiming to make the process faster and more effective for workers to get their payments. It would make checks a secondary option for workers to receive honoraria. Additionally, the bill would remove three student representatives from the Honoraria Committee, adding $2,700 to the yearly budget. This bill was also referred to Advocacy Committee.
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 expand the developing team of the Rate My Landlord project, allowing further updates to the platform and would integrate the team into the EVPLA’s Office. This bill was referred to Outreach Committee.
A Resolution to Establish Standing Policy 44: Use of Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models in ASUCSB(Pascher-Luken): This resolution was introduced last week, and was referred to Outreach Committee following amendments from the Liaison Committee. The resolution seeks to define how Associated Students entities use AI.
Bills Passed:
A Resolution Calling on UC President James Milliken to Reinstate Recurring Meetings with Student Leader (Luken-Jones-Than): This positional resolution establishes that the Associated Students at UC Santa Barbara calls on UC President James Milliken to revamp the one hour quarterly meetings with UC student and staff leadership across the state. The resolution passed in 10-0-2 vote.
A Bill to Revitalize the Academic Focus of the Internal Vice President’s Office (Riss-Sherkin): This bill alters the IVP’s Office Staff, and replaces the Internal Compliance Officer with a Director of Academic Affairs position. The new role would work with the IVP as a representative to any academic committees to discuss curriculum, and would provide quarterly updates to the Senate on academic initiatives.
