The Spring ’09 Special Session of the Student Government Senate met Wednesday night to approve and debate SG President Watkins’ executive charter, appointees and budget.Watkins said his executive charter — his plan for his year in office— was designed to provide the accessibility, accountability and solutions to problems which he promised during his campaign. He asked the senate to back him and his charter.”This is how we plan to run our administration for the next year, and all of this means nothing if we can’t work with ya’ll,” Watkins said.In his first few hours, the Senate approved 33 executive staff appointments and seven judicial and election board positions. After a break, the senators approved another 28 executive appointments, which included President’s cabinet positions and committee appointments.  Though the senators did debate several of Watkins’ appointees, all of them were approved. When debate emerged, Watkins returned to the podium to defend his appointees.”We would not put someone in this position if we were not confident they could get the job done,” Watkins said.Brent Beniot, a cabinet appointees, was disqualified from consideration because he was not a member of the UREC Sports Club. Once the appointments were made, the senators turned their attention to the SG budget for the 2009-2010 calendar. Watkins’ $111,532.15 budget was approved by the Senate after nearly half an hour of debating the allocation of funds. Because of Student Union time constraints, the senators were only able to debate two amendments to the budget.Sen. Andy Palermo, University Center for Advising and Counseling, proposed the amendments. The failed amendment would have reduced the budget of Watkins’ new First Year Experience department by $500 and the approved amendment reduced the vice presidential contingency account from $6,000 to $4,000. Palermo proposed reducing these budgets in order to shift lost funds back into the Senate contingency account.—-Contact Adam Duvernay at [email protected]