Student Association treasurer Troy Caldwell made it easier Sunday for new SA-recognized groups to receive some of the $60,000 to $70,000 in surplus funding.

Previously, only organizations that had been funded by the SA for one year could receive a piece of the “emergency” funds left in the SA’s supplemental funding account. However, under a new rule Caldwell introduced at the Student Senate meeting, any SA-recognized organization can receive the money.

A lack in student requests for supplemental funding has created a surplus which must be reported to the state and will not carry over to the following year, Caldwell said.

“All supplemental funding left at the end of the year this fiscal year will be lost,” he said. “It’s a situation where if we don’t use it, we lose it.”

He hopes the new system will open up possibilities for student groups.

“It will give the opportunity for all student organizations to benefit from the general reserves,” he said.

In other business:

— Two NIU students, Quinesha Colbert and Matisse Felton, were approved as senators.

— SA president Ken Getty announced a possible Asian-American center after a two-hour forum with NIU President John Peters.

— Mayor Bessie Chronopoulos visited, asking the senate to help with a controversial landlord-tenant proposal facing DeKalb. The city is conducting a fact-finding effort to determine the feasibility of the plan, which would, among other changes, guarantee tenants property walk-throughs with their landlords and allow them to make their own repairs and deduct the cost from rent.