The Student Government Association passed a bill to make the bookstore campus market have longer and more consistent hours.

University College Sen. Devin Mullins brought The Market Extension and Consistency Act before the SGA Senate on Jan. 29.

“I had a number of constituents reach out to me and they said, ‘It’s 9 o’clock right now, we have to walk all the way to Trivette in order to get stuff,’” Mullins said.

The bookstore market closes three hours earlier than the Trivette market.

One of Mullins’ constituents told him that because she got off work late, all she wanted to do was pick up food and eat in her dorm. She told Mullins that because the bookstore market was closed, she would have to walk to Trivette.

“That got me on the track of, ‘OK, we need to open bookstore market hours late. You know, we need to make it more accessible, make it more convenient,’” Mullins said.

Mullins said the project became about making the market hours more consistent.

During Mullins’ research for the bill, he reached out to David Venable, assistant director of auxiliary services.

“From the survey he conducted, it came back that it could be a good thing at least to look at, and that’s really where we are at right now,” Venable said.

Of the 109 students Mullins surveyed, 89.9 percent said they would support an extension of the bookstore market hours. When asked how often students would use the market bookstore if open between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m., 43 percent said “often” or “frequently” and 36.7 percent answered “occasionally.” The survey was conducted through a Google Form posted on the App State Classifieds Facebook page.

Venable thinks a shift in hours is feasible, but still has to talk to director of auxiliary services John Eckman.

“It’s probably going to coincide with an academic year so it would either be effective this coming August or it may be a year later,” Venable said.

The Senate passing the bill was the first step toward new market hours.

“I would encourage anybody to reach out to me if they have any more concerns with the markets or reach out to me if they feel like this wasn’t the right action or how we can improve from here,” Mullins said.