Blanket Tax funding unclear amid constitutional debates

By James Cancelarich     9/10/24 11:00pm

Funding for Blanket Tax organizations — including student media organizations, the Rice Program Council and University Court — may be delayed until the Student Association resolves its debate over budget allocations.

The validity of the current SA budget was questioned on Sept. 9 at the first Senate meeting of the school year due to the SA’s handling of last year’s 2024 constitution. UCourt ruled the passage of a constitutional amendment unconstitutional due to a misrepresentation on the ballot, forcing SA to revert to the previous 2023 constitution.

Last spring, the SA rejected the Blanket Tax Committee’s proposed budget under the 2024 constitution. A few weeks later, UCourt ruled that SA must revert back to the 2023 constitution. Under the 2023 constitution, proposed blanket tax allocations do not require a senate vote to pass.

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The blanket tax is a charge of $84 from each student’s tuition at the beginning of the academic year. Organizations that provide services to a majority of the Rice population receive funding from the blanket tax money.

During the Senate meeting, SA president Jae Kim said that while the blanket tax amounts for each organization were properly voted on in the spring, it was created under a constitution that has now been overturned.

However, under the 2023 constitution, the fall 2024 budgeting and funding allocations should have passed last spring.

“We cannot be discussing it in the fall,” Kim said during the SA meeting. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”

“For clubs to operate functionally, there will be money that will be transferred into the blanket tax organizations,” Thomas Ngo, SA treasurer, said during the senate meeting. “[The spring 2024] amount will be the case for now but for any further disputes … there are still things in the constitution and on the bylaws that will need further work.”

In an unofficial straw poll, members of the SA unanimously voted to create a new budget this semester. Heather-Reneé Gooch, the associate director of student engagement, said that blanket tax-funded organizations will not receive their allocated portion while the budget is being created.

“These blanket tax [organizations] will not receive funding until we receive further guidance,” Gooch said during the Senate meeting. “This is uncharted territory for all of us.”

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