A town hall meeting discussing California’s Propositions that will be included in November’s midterm elections was held at the Student Union Thursday, October 24.

Erik R. “Doc” Stone, who is in charge Legislative Affairs, hosted the meeting.

Featuring five speakers from the Associated Students of Rio Hondo College, ASRHC. Everyone gathered to break down the topics for the upcoming elections. Towards the end, students earned food to take with them after a survey.

The first topic was on library hours being extended through the weekend.

Diana Lopez, the treasurer for ASRHC, spoke on the topic. She cited that some students had jobs and can’t use the library during normal times.

For the second resolution, the topic directed to mental health speaker Cynthia Ordonez and focused on mental health awareness week.

Ordonez, an ASRHC senator, explained how mental health is an issue in school. She presented statistics, showing it’s significance. Especially ones like Rio that have a large population of diverse students.

According to Ordonez’s research students of color are twice as likely not to seek out help for mental illness issues. The plan would be to team up with an organization to run a week focused on mental health. The hope is that information would spread to students who need it.

The third issue on the table was about a women and gender equity resource center.

Both Alex Lopez, another senator for ASRHC, and Tiffany Nunez, ASRHC secretary. Lopez and Nunez’s main point was that the school needs a safe place for those who need it.

Meanwhile, Lopez and Nunez said they realize some may think it excludes people, but made it known that it would be a safe place for all who need support

The fourth topic was on health services for all students. Done by Matthew Mangoba, ASRHC President.

The main focus was making sure all students receive the help they need on sexual health.

The last resolution was on education, not incarceration. Presented by Christina Almanza, ASRHC’S head for Cultural Diversity.

However, the topic was based on helping those in any form of incarceration. Could be currently incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and system impacted through education. Making it a more important issue in college.

Joe Lewis Hernadez, formerly incarcerated and from the Rise Program, says he makes it a point to utilize his story to help Rio students like him.

Lastly, the event ended with a debate on Proposition one. The goal was to help students get more information on the proposition to help with voting. There is a possibility that there would be an attempt to cover each proposition to get out additional information.

A version of this article will appear in the printed edition Tuesday, Oct. 27.