Childcare Bill Hearing Takes Place Wednesday, 2/23

So the good news is SB 5795 has been scheduled for a hearing at Senate Ways & Means. The bad news is this agenda is JAMMED PACKED with hearings on 25 bills. Yikes.

Because of the time constraints, we won't be able to give it as much of a treatment as we could have. But we will still do everything we can to make our best case.

The hearing is coming up very quickly. It'll be Wednesday at 1:30. We're 12th on the agenda, so we'll probably end up somewhere in the second half of the hearing.

I will be working hard to lobby members and get the votes. I will need everyone's help in spreading the word. Below is an email we've been sending out to campus student-parent stakeholders.

Let's do this!!!

Ben

Dear Student-Parent,

Sen. Lisa Brown will be sponsoring a GPSS-requested bill SB 5795 Higher Education Child Care Grants, that proposes to reinstate and increase funding for the Child Care Matching Grant Program.

The bill has been giving a public hearing in the Senate on Wednesday, Feb. 23. We need you to show up to Olympia and show that student-parents are DEMANDING this. If you cannot make it, please write a letter supporting this bill.

We are looking for student-parents to volunteer to:

• Share their stories and experience as a student-parent, and how being a parents makes it difficult for you to attain your degrees
• Testify in support of this bill
• Recruit other student-parents to participate
• If you are interested, please contact Lauren Hipp at gpsspol@uw.edu by Tuesday, Feb. 22. If you are writing a letter, please email it to that address.

Thank you so much for all of your support during this process!  With your help, we can restore the essential state support for student-parents.

More details about the bill: http://gpss2011.blogspot.com/2011/02/gpss-backed-bill-helps-student-parents.html

Sincerely,

Ben Henry
Vice President
UW Graduate & Professional Student Senate