Student lobbyists will meet on the Capitol Building steps in Olympia today to address legislative issues of importance to the undergraduate and graduate bodies.

The University of Washington’s annual Student Lobby Day will begin at 10 a.m. Coordinators expect about 70 attendees, who will be divided into groups according to topics of particular interest. These groups will meet with their respective legislators to address concerns on behalf of the student body.

While the turnout is smaller than last year’s 100 attendees, what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality, coordinators said.

“It’s a little bit lower than last year, but we’re a little more educated on the issues,” said Elliot Helmbrecht, legislative coordinator for the Office of Government Relations for ASUW. “We’ve taken away from some of the mass marketing and put more effort into keeping people up on the issues. We weren’t really shooting for a high count, but 70 [is] still a pretty good turnout.”

A smaller turnout means the event will be organized and executed differently than in years past.

“The groups are going to be smaller than last year,” Helmbrecht said. “We’re trying to do a couple more things; we’re taking some Capitol tours to get attendees acquainted with the campus if they’ve never been there before.”

The legislative session has several bills in the system that are of particular interest to students, and the groups intend to address specific bills with the senators and representatives who can affect change.

“We’ve already got 50 legislator meetings scheduled,” Helmbrecht said. “We’ll be addressing a variety of issues [including] campus safety … [and] childcare on campus … and we’ll be talking about the Husky Stadium issue, although we haven’t taken a position on it yet. Our goal is to inform.”

Attendance isn’t the only difference this year, as students from Washington State University will be lobbying alongside Huskies.

“Wazzu is going to be there on the same day, and we’re going to try to show a unified front,” he said. “Even though we compete on the football field, we want to show that we can cooperate in support of the issues that matter to both of us.”

[Reach reporter Jeff Tripoli at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]