A motion that would retain the controversial operator of the Panther Express, while doubling the shuttle bus fee was tabled Wednesday by the Student Senate.

The proposed legislation would raise the shuttle bus fee by as much as $5.30 per student, per semester. Each student currently pays a $5.60 fee.

The fee hike would pay for a new three-year contract between the university and H & H Transportation of Charleston, the current operator of the Panther Express.

H & H was contracted last December by the university to run two shuttle buses for seven semesters, but unexpectedly halted service last month, claiming it could not provide the service at the bid price, a flat rate averaging $55,177 a semester, or about $23 per hour of service. The university and H & H mutually agreed to terminate the old contract, but later signed a new contract that pays the company $42 a hour to run a single bus.

Under the new contract, H & H would be paid about $37 a hour. If one bus ran, the fee increase would be $1.30. Two buses would mean an increase of $5.30.

Student Body President Katie Cox said the proposed rate is lower than the current rate because it was impossible for the company to afford a six-week contract without inflating the price beyond what they could charge for a year-long contract.

In other business, a controversial bylaw change that compensates each executive officer a flat rate of $1,197 per year was approved by senate members despite being voted down earlier in the evening.

The senate’s approval came only after over a half-dozen proposed amendments to the legislation, and a hour and a half debate over the “in-state” specification, and whether executives should be compensated by the credit hour rather than a flat rate.

Initially, the bylaw change was defeated by a single vote. However, senate member Ronnie Deedrick brought the legislation back from the dead by motioning to reconsider the proposed change.

Without the change, Deedrick said, the senate would be forced to continue the existing system of compensation, under which executives receive a full tuition waiver, With the introduction of credit hours rather than the old flat tuition rate, continuing the current system would be so expensive that the senate would be forced to spend money budgeted for other senate activities, he said.

The revote on the bylaw change passed 17-4-2.

The new rate of $1,197 is equal to the cost of 12 credit hours for an in-state student.