By Rosa Rice-Pelepko and Zoë Evans-Agnew
This week we saw a lot of action in the capitol!
Over President’s Day weekend Western students headed down to Olympia to lobby legislators about issues pertinent to the Ethnic Student Center, the Environmental and Sustainability Programs and the Disability Outreach Center. Later in the week, the House and Senate both released their proposals for the supplemental budget. We are currently in the second year of the legislature’s two year cycle, and any revisions to the budget passed last year are included in the supplemental budget.
Around 60 students lobbied on behalf of Western to increase legislator awareness about issues that directly impact college students. The Ethnic Student Center (ESC) agenda focused on supporting undocumented students as well as promoting programs that would give communities of color greater access to higher education. The ESC also worked heavily to encourage senators and representatives to implement an Ethnic Studies curriculum in the K-12 school system, because many underrepresented populations do not see their histories and experiences in current school curriculum.
The Environmental and Sustainability Program (ESP) worked to advance their environmental justice agenda, which included items such as implementing a carbon tax and ensuring that the area around Seatac airport is kept free of dangerous emissions. The ESP worked especially hard to support policies that both improve Washington’s public health and ensure environmental protection and equity for all, especially low-income people.
It was the Disability Outreach Center’s (DOC) first time lobbying down in Olympia and they accompanied the other two groups to deliver a strong agenda. Their agenda items focused on ensuring employment equity at public universities as well as increasing funding for disability services. The students worked with legislators to educate them on important issues of access and inclusion in all areas of Western, as well as push for increasing aid and assistance to people living with disabilities.
It was great to have so many Western students on the Capitol campus. It started off a great week in the legislature.
Following the lobby days, both house budget proposals were released. The economic forecast released two weeks ago indicated the state had an additional 600 million dollars more than expected.
With the news of the budget surplus, the Washington Student Association and other higher education stakeholders took the opportunity to push full funding of the State Need Grant this year.Student lobbyists tracked down their legislators and key budget writers to make a case for full funding, organizers on campus organized phone calls of support and students attended town halls to pressure legislators to keep the State Need Grant a priority this session. This effort was heard in the legislature.
The House’s proposed budget included an additional $25 million this year for the State Need Grant and a plan to fully fund it over 3 years! This is an amazing proposal, the largest allocation to State Need Grant that we have seen in nearly a decade.
The proposed Senate Budget included an additional $9.8 million this year, still a sizable increase, but we will be urging the Senate to raise this investment. The final budget will be released in the next two weeks as House and Senate leadership negotiate details of both proposals.
Student action is needed!! If you are from the 3rd, 23rd or 34th districts, your Senators Billig, Rolfes and Nelson respectively, are key budget writers. Call or email them now and urge them to fully fund the state need grant in the budget. Students called Western’s own Representative Lytton to fully fund the State Need Grant, and the House budget rejected this ask.
If any of the above agenda items from our student lobby days resonate with you, please consider reaching out to learn how to get more involved. Students have always taken part in social advocacy, and Western students continue to uphold this legacy on and off campus. For questions or comments, please contact me at as.legislative.liaison@wwu.edu, or attend the Legislative Affairs Council, Tuesdays at 5pm in VU 567.