Legislative Affairs is an open committee of the Associated Students of Madison. Any UW-Madison student can become a member!

The Legislative Affairs committee works to represent the best interests of the students here in Madison.  Through education and lobbying efforts, the Leg. Affairs committee will be swaying legislators to pass legislation that benefits UW-Madison as a whole! 

Some issues that the committee anticipates working on include:

• The State Budget - The Fiscal Year 08 Budget has not been passed yet!!  This means that financial aid has not been distributed to those students who are in need...almost 6,000 students are unsure of their status as students because they cannot currently afford to attend the university!
• Institutionalizing voter registration in SOAR - It would be a much more successful endeavor to register students to vote at the same time they are registering for classes!!  The Leg. Affairs Committee will seek to implement this into the SOAR curriculum.
• Chapter 17 Non Academic Misconduct Policy Modification - The UW Systems were reviewing whether or not each individual university should be allowed to hold students accountable for crimes committed in the community.  An example would be an underage drinking ticket or noise violation.  The Leg. Affairs Committee does not deem this as a plausible or necessary endeavor for the university to pursue. 

Resources for Legislation:

Madison (Mayor, Common Council)
Dane County (Board of County Supervisors)
Wisconsin (Legislature, Governor)
US (Senate, House, President)

Don't know who represents you?  Go to http://waml.legis.state.wi.us/, type in your address, and voila!

The Legislative Affairs Committee does not work alone, however.  It collaborates with both United Council (statewide student association) and the United States Student Association (national student organization) on state and national issues.  Opportunities within this collaboration include attending the General Assemblies for United Council bi-monthly and the Legislative Conference for the United States Student Association, held in Washington DC, in March!

The best way to get involved is to attend the Legislative Affairs Committee meetings!!!

These are held every Thursday at 6 pm, T.I.T.U. for Memorial Union!

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail the Legislative Affairs Chair, Hannah Karns, at hkarns@wisc.edu.

To find out more about United Council and USSA, CLICK HERE