The Boca House of Representatives met on March 28 to discuss multiple bills brought before the House. A bill supplying opioid overdose training and medicine was passed alongside a bill renaming “Multicultural Programming” to “Global Programming.”

However, the House blocked a bill providing more electric charging stations on campus for electric vehicles. The bills debated were the Electric Car Charging Resolution bill, the Opioid Overdose Awareness Campaign bill and the Multicultural Programming and Psychoeducational Programming renaming bill.

The bill aimed to increase the number of electric vehicle charging spots on campus was blocked by a 2-11 vote. Speaker Pro Tempore Alex Mojica, who authored the bill, spoke in front of the house in support of the bill.

“What this does is it asks Engineering & Utilities to build more charging stations for EV vehicles,” Mojica said. “More electric cars owned by students can get charging and it also slowly and minutely incentivizes students to get electric vehicles.”

However, many representatives felt the bill was unnecessary, citing that parking at FAU is already a prevalent issue. Rules and Policies Chair Jack Nixon was one of many who spoke in opposition to the bill.

“There’s already some [charging stations], and nobody comes to me asking for it. I’m not opposed to if you want it or not, but we already have a parking problem as it is,” Nixon said. “We shouldn’t be reserving precious spaces for something that someone else chose to drive.”

Representative Jayden Weiner, a sophomore health administration major, took time to voice his dissatisfaction at the meeting, as he said FAU’s electric charging spots are very often available as it is.

“I don’t think there’s enough parking in general on this campus, and I’m someone who drives an electric car,” Weiner said. “And I don’t think allocating more spots for electric charging is going to do anything to improve that situation.” 

The second bill brought before the house was a motion to provide opioid relief items to the campus. Cabinets will be placed in each FAU college building and around campus with safety equipment, such as Narcan, the medicine commonly used to treat opioid overdoses in emergency situations.

House Parliamentarian Lina Vasquez-Baron, who authored the bill, summarized the bill to the House. She pointed out that the opioid overdose crisis is a serious issue backed by data and said the House has a duty to look out for its fellow students.

The bill also called for funding increased training for students on opioid-related incidents and how to respond in an emergency. The bill was created in collaboration with FAU’s Police Department.

“Just having the right product at the right time can be the difference between saving a life or allowing someone to overdose,” Baron said. The bill passed unanimously.

The final bill involved the renaming of “Multicultural Programming” to “Global Programming.” Nixon explained the bill further to the House, saying how besides small changes, the bill is meant to adhere to new federal legislation and university statutes.

Multicultural Programming Director Giulia Fuentes, a senior political science major, also spoke to the house regarding the name change. She urged House members to simply stop renaming the program, pleading for the long-term future of the program in fear of it being removed as a result of new federal legislation, similar to the Center for IDEAs, which was closed in 2024 in accordance to new Florida laws.

“Our work is not interchangeable, and our presence is not optional,” Fuentes said. “We’re not here to be convenient. We are here because we are necessary. We’ve been here, we have a reason to be here, we’re still here and we will always be here.”

The bill to rename the program passed with an 11-2 majority. Baron spoke in support of the program, asking how the student government program can provide support. Fuentes responded by simply asking for higher turnout from student government at multicultural events throughout the rest of the school year.

Julius Demosthenes is a Staff Writer for the University Press. For more information on this or other stories, contact Demosthenes at jdemosthenes792@gmail.com or DM jay_dem0 on Instagram.