Student volunteers at Western Washington University logged onto Zoom to meet with state legislators on Monday, Jan. 17. They spoke to over 60 representatives throughout the day, lobbying for the Associated Students’ legislative agenda.
Lobby day is an opportunity for students to engage in the political process by speaking with representatives in Olympia about Western’s needs and priorities.
This year, the AS Office of Civic Engagement Director of Legislative Affairs, Anna Corinne Huffman, worked hard to prepare the agenda and connect students with legislators.
“The primary goal of Western lobby day is to help Western students get involved in the legislative process in kind of a low stakes way,” Huffman said. “It’s an opportunity for students to work with a group of their peers and then meet with legislators to discuss issues that they care about.”
Huffman resides in Olympia throughout the legislative session. She was assisted in Bellingham by Breaker Chittenden, the AS OCE Voter Engagement and Recruitment Coordinator.
“I personally have an interest in legislative stuff and in bills, so I was talking a lot with Anna Corinne and was able to go over things people were confused about on the agenda,” Chittenden said.
The agenda is 23 pages long and includes a diverse set of demands and priorities.
Huffman said the broader goals of the agenda are college affordability, financial aid, environmental justice, campus sustainability and divesting from prison labor.
A specific bill that volunteers lobbied for was House Bill 1659. This bill would expand the Washington College Grant, formerly known as the Washington Student Need Grant.
“There’s this gap between how much the Washington Student Need Grant will give and how much the federal government can provide and support,” Chittenden said. “No one’s being able to provide funding and students are struggling to fill that gap, so we are lobbying for the Bridge Grant to bridge the gap.”
Students also lobbied for needs that are not yet bills in session.
“The point of this is to gauge interest in which legislators may be interested in supporting measures in the future,” Huffman said.
For example, they lobbied for the passing of a capital budget request for next year. A primary goal for this budget would be to enact heating alternatives to replace Western’s current boilers, which account for 33% of the school’s carbon footprint, according to the agenda.
According to the legislative agenda, Western could then “partner with other parts of the community to create a larger sustainable energy system that would serve several parts of the Bellingham area.”
The goal of lobbying for this is to urge legislators to support a clean energy heating project at Western in 2022-23.
While the agenda is a useful tool for legislators to refer to, student engagement and advocacy plays a crucial role in achieving the goals presented within it.
“It’s really important that students are showing up and paying attention to what legislators are doing,” Huffman said. “It’s about accountability.”
Sienna Taylor, a third-year student at Western, volunteered for lobby day for the first time this year.
Taylor said that a lot of the preparation for lobby day involved reading about legislators and the bills in the agenda. From there, volunteers found points they personally connected with and had stories relating to.
“Personal stories always go very far when you’re talking with a legislator,” Taylor said.
Organizers encouraged students to discuss bills and agenda items that resonated with them to create deeper connections with legislators.
Taylor is an environmental studies major and found a personal connection with House Bill 1753.
“This was about tribal consultation. It is a proposition that any new infrastructure happening under the Climate Commitment Act that Washington passed last year would have to be consulted with tribes before doing anything on their land,” Taylor said.
Personal ties like this one are what make lobby day so impactful to volunteers and legislators.
“Personally I feel like [lobby day] is really important,” Chittenden said. “Saying, ‘we voted and we chose who we feel should be helping us run our government and now we play an active role in that.’”
For students who want to get involved with the legislative process, it is not too late. Western Intersectional Lobby Day is happening in mid-February and the AS OCE consistently sends out newsletters with engagement opportunities. For more information on future events, visit their Instagram or webpage.
Annabelle Stefanoff (she/her) is majoring in Political Science and Economics and triple minoring in Spanish, news/ed journalism and honors interdisciplinary studies. When not reporting, she enjoys undertaking multi-day baking projects and reading a good book.
