Student organizations with large membership and a low budget will now be able to get more usable money from the Government of the Student Body.

The GSB Senate passed a bill Wednesday to limit the amount of criteria dues – or membership dues – which are $10, to 20 percent of the sum of the organization’s total criteria expenses – the money given directly to GSB. The exception, according to the bill, would be for organizations that charge dues more than $10 per member.

Criteria dues are only paid to GSB if an organization applies for funding from GSB. Half of those criteria dues, $5, is given to GSB. The other half – non-criteria dues – can be used on whatever the organization would like, such as pizza parties.

Before, groups with 100 members requesting $2,000 from GSB actually would only be able to spend $1,500. This is because the GSB Bylaws mandate the amount of money allocated to any student organization is determined by subtracting the group’s criteria dues from its criteria expenses.

The criteria dues add up to $10 per member, with $5 going to non-criteria expenses. That would amount to $500 subtracted from a proposed $2,000 funding request by a 100-member group.

“The groups often affected by these rules tend to be cultural groups who have low financial demand but high membership,” said Speaker of the Senate Andrew Kothenbeutel.

Now, only 20 percent of the criteria dues could be subtracted from a club’s proposed funding request.

Sen. Justin Hillock, off-campus, said he is concerned about creating an unequal balance between small groups and larger ones.

“Now that we passed this bill, smaller groups have a bigger pull,” Hillock said.

The senate has been looking for a solution to the criteria question for the past few years, he said. The original laws were flawed, because there were groups that weren’t given money, Hillock said.

“It was sad and silly to say we couldn’t fund them because they don’t meet the criteria dues,” he said.

The decreased criteria dues and increased student organizations requesting money could put a crunch on the GSB budget, Hillock said.

If this bill would have taken effect last year, it would have taken a $3,000 deficit from GSB’s $1.4 million budget, Kothenbeutel said. The deficit can be absorbed in other areas, he said.

“It has a very minor effect on the budget,” Kothenbeutel said.

The new bill will have no adverse effects on large student organizations, because they often raise more funds through fund-raisers than $10 per member, he said.

Larger organizations more commonly request capital funds, which can amount to tens of thousands of dollars, Kothenbeutel said. Smaller organizations do not, he said.

“This opens the door to make it more equal,” Kothenbeutel said

The bill came up after senators raised concerns about too many student organizations being zero funded, Kothenbeutel said. Those groups were being zero funded because their criteria dues were higher than their funding request, putting them in negative territory, he said.

GSB President Andy Tofilon signed the bill into law after much reservation.

“I went into this with serious concerns,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that no student group would be handicapped by the decision of the senate.”

After talking to the senate leadership and the finance director, Tofilon said he felt it wouldn’t hinder any student group seeking funding through GSB.

The senate will continue to discuss this issue, Kothenbeutel said.

“There is a concern that this system be simple and fair to all student organizations,” he said. “We want to make the most effective system we can. Students are our primary concern, and there will be continued communication between the senate and executive.”