This year you have attended your first plenary session and participated in the discussion and debate of resolutions on Saturday. There are several resolutions that you are interested in and you begin to wonder what happens next. This article will briefly describe what happens to resolutions after they are adopted and how you can track their status.
Once the resolutions are adopted by the delegates, they are assigned to a Senate standing or ad hoc committee, liaison, the Executive Director, or the President. When the body does not adopt a resolution but instead refers a resolution to the Executive Committee, the disposition of referred resolutions is discussed by the Executive Committee at its next meeting and is either assigned to a committee or returned to the delegates at the next plenary session for further clarification and deliberation, or declared non-feasible.
But how can you determine what has happened to a resolution? There are several ways to track the status of a resolution. Adopted and referred resolutions are listed on the Senate website in the resolution database, on the Status and Accountability report included each year in the plenary session materials, and listed on the Strategic Plan for each committee, which is also posted on the Senate website under the standing committees tab.
The Executive Committee strives to complete resolutions as assigned in a timely manner. Each year the Executive Committee reviews those resolutions that have not been completed and prioritizes them based on the current climate. The committees work on these resolutions during the year, which can be seen in articles in the Rostrum and in breakouts held during each plenary session.
As you can see by the deliberation of the resolutions beginning at the plenary session and continued by the Executive Committee, the adopted resolutions of the Senate drive the work of the Executive Committee and its committees. Each resolution is tracked and reported back to the delegates through a variety of avenues. If you are interested in where a resolution is in the process, we encourage you to check our website for its status and follow up with the individual or committee it is assigned to for further information.