Western Washington University

Legislative Affairs Council

December 2nd, 2019	VU 567

Board Members:	Present: Grace Drechsel (VP for Governmental Affairs), Phoebe DeMeerler (Local Issues Coordinator), Nicole Ballard (Organizing and Outreach Coordinator), Bennett Massey-Helber (Director of Legislative Affairs), Kayl Gillihan (Outreach and Representation), Jasmine (GSAC), Nora Harren (REP Director), Jose Ortuzar (ECC Representative), Joselyn Chavez (ESC Representative), Grace LaMonte (Student At-Large), Collin Thrower (Student At-Large), Erin Kelly (Student At-Large), Kaitlyn Davidson (Student At-Large), and Jennifer Leveque (Student At-Large).
Secretary:	Sierra Templeton
Guest(s):	Becca and Mitch representing the company of “Here Too”

Motions:
LAC-19-F-22	To add a public forum section to the meeting for the LAC guests. Passed.
LAC-19-F-23	To approve the LAC Legislative Agenda for the AS Executive Board. Passed.

I.	Call to Order

Grace Drechsel, VP of Governmental Affairs, called the meeting to order at 4:01 p.m.

II.	Additions and Changes to the Agenda
MOTION LAC-19-F-22	by Drechsel
To add a public forum section to the meeting for the LAC guests.
Second: Bennett	Action: Passed

III.	Approval of Minutes
A.	N/A

IV.	Public Forum
A.	“Here Too” Gun Violence Lobbying The company of “Here Too” would like to attend lobby day as a group for gun violence prevention. They are asking for support and funding to do this. They then read their statement which was in support of SB 5062, SB 5340, and SB 5061. Ballard stated that she was worried about confusing legislators if the “Here Too” group was a second Western group meeting with legislators, since all other school attending only have one group. Massey-Helber asked if they group could attend another Monday. Gillihan stated she worried that the “Here Too” agenda would be overshadowed by the official Lobby Day agenda. Thrower asked, since gun violence prevention wasn’t a top priority on the student survey the LAC sent out, why the LAC should pool our resources into this group. Drechsel responded that there is a mobilized group of students who are expressing concern over the issue which is enough to justify this. Harren suggested that the “Here Too” company attend as representative of the Here Too movement in Western’s Lobby Day group so that they would be able to take advantage of Western’s resource, and this point was agreed upon.

V.	Information Items
A.	LAC Proposals Support for Survivors Title IX guidelines are being changed by the Trump administration, but a house bill in the works to require any college to do a survey of sexual assault on their campus as well as make complaints accessible so that someone can’t move universities to get away from these complaints, and keeping the preponderance of evidence so that only 51% on people have to believe the event occurred for it to be valid rather than the 75% that it may be changed to. Gillihan noted that she would need to get rid of one of the other asks to make it more manageable. Drechsel noted that adding some specific statistics from RAINN would really strengthen the asks. Student Support Package The ask allocates $2,000 per cause (the Veterans Service Center, the Prevention and Wellness Center, and CASAS) for hiring, space, and resources. Massey-Helber stated that the admin have discussed using the MCC for peer wellness coaches. According to Cislena, 40% of students have non-urgent needs so this may fill in the gap for these students and alleviate the burden on the counseling center. Ortuzar stated that it’s important that trained professionals are doing this work rather than students who have a couple weeks of training. Ballard stated that she saw a problem with admin using the MCC for this purpose, especially choosing to do this without student input. Harren noted that she worries this may be a short term fix that will lead to lack of long term action. Drechsel mentioned concern for lack of student input on this decision as well seeing that this is a service that will directly affect students. Massey-Helber noted that the admin is planning to set aside $30 million to cover a new health center that will encompass CASAS, the Health Center, and the Prevention and Wellness Center. He noted that he needed to add another priority to specifically hire another counselor for the Prevention and Wellness Center, as well as adding $200,000 for food-bank funding, specifically Feeding Western as many student expressed food-insecurity as a concern on the LAC survey. The budget for the Prevention and Wellness Center has stayed the same for the past 20 years although the student population has doubled during this time. We need short term action as well as long term care. Drechsel asked why there hasn’t been student collaboration for this plan. Perhaps creating an ask for more space in the counseling center, but as there are no current bills on this topic it may take 3-5 years for legislation to be created. However, there is a use in asking simply to start a conversation. Health and Wellness The LAC is not in the position to be able to change the RCW, but the LAC can create a plan to figure out the most equitable way to help students with their healthcare, rather than harming them. It would make sense to add this to the wellness ask.

VI.	Action Items
A.	LAC Agenda Funding for Ethnic Studies Drechsel noted she changed the ask so all beginning words were command words to strengthen it a little. Massey-Helber noted the need to ask for funding on a biennium basis as legislators find this really important Dedicated Revenue This is the LAC’s way of finding how to fund all these asks. The LAC needs to make sure none of the legislation in the asks have been closed so that the asks are actually helpful in passing legislation.
MOTION LAC-19-F-23	by Drechsel
To approve the LAC Legislative Agenda for the AS Executive Board.
Second: Bennett	Action: Passed

VII.	Discussion Items
A. B.	One-pagers for Lobby Day The LAC needs to add background information and details about the asks on the one-pagers to give to students before they lobby to legislators. Executive Board and Student Senate Meeting If LAC members are free, showing up to this would be a good opportunity to talk about the agenda and to advocate for the committee. These both will be held on Friday, the Executive Board from 3-5 in VU 567 and the Senate from 5-7 in the same area. Drechsel will email out this information to the committee as well.

VIII.	Reports
Phoebe, Local Issues Coordinator stated that the new elected officials of Bellingham will be in office after the end of Winter break. Bennett, Director of Legislative Affairs, stated that he has been planning and coordinating his more to Olympia for lobbying next quarter. Nicole, Organizing and Outreach Coordinator, did not have anything to report. Grace, AS VP for Governmental Affairs, stated that she has been working on outreach for Lobby Day as well as working with board assistant Jude to figure out the food for this event and tying up loose ends on the LAC agenda.
IX.	Other Business
A.	N/A

Grace Drechsel, AS VP of Governmental Affairs, adjourned this meeting at 5:19 p.m.