Six members of the American University Women of Whidbey Island joined forces with local members of the League of Women Voters of Washington to attend Lobby Day on Feb. 4.
Helen Chatfield-Weeks, Carole LaFond, Betsy Cave, Millie Stanton, Marilyn Cowger and Judy Yeakel spent the night of Feb. 3 in Olympia.
The next day began early with a walk to the Department of Social and Health Services building.
Speakers at Lobby Day were Mike Kreidler, Washington state insurance commissioner, who stressed that health care needed to move away from employer-based insurance to individual responsibility for insurance. He said such large pools of insurance would be less expensive.
Dave Horn, assistant attorney general, spoke on bullying in schools, addressing cause of youth violence. Ellen O’Brien Saunders, executive director, workforce training and education coordinating board, spoke on strategies for improving training and educaiton programs for women.
The final speaker was Sherry Appleton, lobbyist for AAUW and League of Women Voters, who suggested how to lobby legislators. She suggested asking for a yes vote on HB 2424/SB 6386, allowing a public vote on providing a simple majority of voters authorizing school district levies and bonds. Many other tax measures do not need to get more than 60 percent to pass their levies, so why should schools, which are more important?
AAUW’s position is to pass a state budget that balances individual rights and responsibility to community, particularly to women and families. AAUW supports a tax system which will provide a stable source of public funds and
produce greater overall equity in distribution of tax burdens.