The University at Albany Senate will pass more bills than it has last year.

In the 2015-2016 school year, the UAlbany Senate passed a total of 165 bills all together, this number was provided by Senate Head Chair Jarret Altilio. This year alone, Altilio said the Senate has proposed 191 bills at the time this article was written. There is still about one month until the semester is over.

Senate Vice-Chair Austin Ostro said that he estimates that around 20 bills have not passed. “Very few bills fail,” he said.

The UAlbany Senate is comprised of elected student officials whose job it is to pass bills and resolutions tending to student needs.

The increase in the bills passed this year goes hand-and-hand with keeping members of the Senate engaged.

“This year’s senate is by far the most engaged, thoughtful and involved senate that I’ve seen,” Altilio said. “I remember back in my freshman year, it would be hard to get them in their seats, let alone get them to do anything. We have had far better attendance this year than ever before at senate.”

This is Altilio’s third year on the senate, and has been reelected for another term in last week’s general election.

“I know for sure we have more bills that passed this year than last year,” Student Association President Felix Abreu. “Overall bills represent what the Student Association sees is the best for the students. It’s always safe to believe that if the bill passes here in senate, you best believe that the student senate believes it best for the students.”

Abreu went on to talk about how the SA Senate has change since he was a senator. “In my time… not a lot of students-not a lot of senators would be present, but now, we have a full house.”

No trends were available to be found in the Senate section of the University website. Only six resolutions are posted for this year, and ten from last year. Altilio and Student Association President-Elect Jerlisa Fontaine both said that the program will be worked on in the future.

“Over the Summer we will be working to make sure the website and the information on it will be up to date,” Fontaine said.

“Coming off of a President who is a computer science major, and now a vice president-elect who is a computer science major, there is going to be a push for more of an IT-communications-public relations sort of angle, so I would expect… we’re going to have to put ourselves out there in terms of what we do and who we are,” Altilio said.

Dr. James Collins, Chairman of the University Senate, praised the work of the SA Senate. “I think if the student assembly is able to pass more legislation, if they’re able to have elections where over 2,000 people turn up to vote, these are all signs of healthy self-governments,” he said.

The University Senate consists of teaching faculty, professional faculty, SA senators, and members of graduate programs. Collins said that the University Senate is supposed to act as a “shared governance” between the senate and the administration.

Some of the notable resolutions that have passed include the reversals on President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban, and calling for free speech in response to the UC Berkeley riots.

“I think the purpose of resolutions is to speak on issues relevant to college students,” Ostro said. “The intention is to not get too over political. [Ideally] resolutions are based off of student issues.”