The Undergraduate Student Government Senate voted to ban USG President Justin Zartman from lobbying any views not supported by the senate.

Zartman may express his personal ideas to state legislators or officials as a citizen, but he cannot do so in his role as USG president, according to Tuesday night's measure. The senate overrode Zartman's veto of an executive order passed by the group that forces Zartman to solely represent the views of the senate, not his own, when lobbying state legislators or state officials.

"My biggest problem is when there is a disagreement within different branches of government -- and it happens in politics all the time -- that this particular senate has decided it is necessary to immediately step up and silence the voice with a dissenting opinion," Zartman said. "This order is an abuse of their power. I disagree with them, so now I can't speak."

Zartman must make it known that the official opinion of USG supports the reenactment of the Tuition Challenge Grant, an initiative that would deny part of the university's state funding if Penn State raises tuition and fees more than 4.5 percent.

All members of the executive branch also will be responsible for distributing an information packet supplied by the senate's Political Action and Lobbying Committee (PALC) chair, Rick Smith.

The measure further dictates any additional materials distributed to state officials by executive members must be approved by a senate majority first.

Zartman said relationships he formed with members of the Pa. House of Representatives now will be strained.

"If they ask for information, for a news article, I used to give it to them. This now prohibits how I, elected to represent the student body, interact with state officials," he said.

At the Jan. 22 senate meeting, when the order was first passed, Town Sen. Jason Covener explained that although Zartman could override the veto, it would require a two-thirds majority to pass. He also said "the veto would be overridden anyway" and he hoped Zartman "would do the mature thing here" and either sign it or pocket it.

"Jason has votes with his (conservative) coalition to override a veto," Zartman said. "I don't do things to use my power. I vetoed it because it's not good for students."

The order stems from when Zartman and Council of Commonwealth Student Governments President Kristopher Ankarlo compiled a report about the Tuition Challenge Grant's negative effects on students.

"Justin going around lobbying is fine, his giving out information with dissenting view points is even fine, but the way that he did it was not professional and not in the best interest of the students," Town Sen. Josh Sullivan, who is also a member of PALC, said.

"The order obviously limits what he can do with his power, but it is in the senate's power to do what we did," he said. "This was an exercise of senate's power to prohibit Justin from using his power to hurt the student body, but that can be contested."

During the senate's Jan. 22 meeting, when the executive order was first passed, Town Sen. Jason Covener, who drafted the document right before the meeting, acknowledged that the measure is a "lighter version" of a censor.

The senate censured Zartman last semester by censoring him from speaking about the University Park Allocation Committee funding of the Distinguished Speaker Series. Zartman had vetoed a senate proposal to change the way UPAC funds the series.