Legislation

SNA's Legislative Action Conference will be held March 1-4, 2009, in Washington DC. You can find a draft of their Legislative Issue Paper here.

WSNA Day on the Hill in Olympia will be held on February 18. Plan to meet at the WASA office, 825 Fifth Avenue SE, Olympia, by 9 am that morning. An agenda of the day's events can be found here. In preparation for your visit, you should plan to make appointments with your legislators and can find help in doing so as well as more information here.

News and Updates

WSNA, along with the Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington, Children's Alliance, and the AntiHunger & Nutrition Coalition, is asking the Washington State Legislature to expand its commitment of focusing students to do their best in school through access to healthy school lunches by requsting that the Legislature fund the $ .40 co-pay for reduced lunches currently being borne by parents and grandparents for pre-K and 4-8 students. The Legislature currently funds that co-pay for students in grades 1-3. You will find the WSNA Legislative Proposal in greater detail here.

Other groups, such as the Washington State PTA (find their letter here) and the School Nurse Organization of Washington (find their letter here) also support the efforts of the Legislature to strengthen school nutrition programs.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has issued a School Foods Report Card for 2007 that contains interesting information regarding school nutrition policies across the nation, including Washington State.

Find the Public Policy and Legislation Powerpoint presentation from the 2007 Fall Workshops here.

Federal
One of the first places you should check for federal legislation issues is the Legislative Action page from SNA. There you will find the latest on legislation as well as easy links to contact your congressmen.

If you are interested in legislation and wish to advocate on behalf of child nutrition issues, consider attending SNA’s annual Legislative Action Conference. This annual conference is an exciting way for you to be involved in directly affecting legislation on the national level by meeting with your legislators. You will be a part of a delegation from Washington state that is comprised of child nutrition professionals like yourself and our industry partners.

State
WSNA sponsors a State Legislative Action Conference that is normally held in February in Olympia. Check back on this page for more details as the time draws closer.

WSNA is a member of the Alliance of Educational Associations (AEA), a partnership of Washington educational associations such as the Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) and the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA). AEA provides, among other things, information and acts as a positive influence on legislation to create the best possible educational system for students in Washington State. During a legislative session, you can read WASA's weekly newsletter here.

Find out what’s happening in the Washington State Legislature, track bills, and find the contact information for your state legislators by visiting http://www1.leg.wa.gov/legislature.

WSNA’s Public Policy and Legislation Committee Chairs Gaye Lynn MacDonald (Federal) and Lincoln Pierce (State) are excellent contacts if you would like more information or have questions regarding legislative issues.