Student government members at El Camino College shared their experiences lobbying the California State Assembly in Sacramento regarding bills on homelessness and immigration issues in the Schauerman Library Collaboration Room on Wednesday, April 23.

Seven students from the Associated Students Organization — Julissa Celis, Charlie Mitchell, Jake Smith, Nabeeha Muhammad, Jocelyn Coenmans, Andres Osorio and Miguel Oliveros — had their hands busy in handshakes and marches during their trip to Sacramento from March 4-6.

The students — who are all either ASO senators, commissioners or directors, and all members of ASO’s External Affairs Committee — personally met with 20 out of 80 members of California’s Assembly, the state’s lower legislative house.

For most of the ASO members attending, it was their first time lobbying.

“When it comes to lobbying, you’re asking them to vote a certain way. It can be scary because they can say, ‘No,'” Mitchell, 21, political science major and senator of Mathematical Sciences said. “They might say, ‘You’re wrong. You need to go back and do better.'”

The committee lobbied to official legislative bodies regarding Assembly Bill 49, the California Safe Haven Schools and Child Care Act, and AB 90, overnight student parking at public postsecondary institutions.

AB 49 prohibits K-12 employees from allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to enter a school site for any purpose without first providing valid identification and a written judicial statement of purpose, according to the official text found on LegiScan.

ASO went directly to AB 49’s author, California State Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, to ask that he make amendments to the bill.

Muratsuchi, a part-time social science instructor at ECC, represents Assembly District 66, which covers much of the South Bay region and includes El Segundo, Gardena and Torrance.

“Our ask was to support [AB49], but also support amending it,” Smith, 20, commissioner of External Affairs and Inter-Club Council vice president, said. “Our ask was to make it cover K-14, which is community colleges, too.”

Amendment AB49 has not been finalized and will undergo an Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, April 29. The amendment being reviewed would declare that the bill is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

“Muratsuchi mentioned that if the bill were to pass with the amendments we were bringing up, it’s because of this conversation we are having right now,” Muhammad, 21, director of External Affairs, said.

AB 90 would require each community college district and California State University to establish a program, as specified, to allow overnight parking by eligible students, according to the official text found on LegiScan.

ASO members met with Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez of Assembly District 36, who said AB 90 does not serve his district and that Imperial Valley College, for instance, does not have a need for overnight parking.

Imperial Valley College utilizes tiny homes — temporary housing — placed on available surrounding land. The college is located in Imperial County, the southeastern-most part of California.

Smith, who is a political science major, said that student overnight parking is needed as ECC and other institutions in densely-populated urban areas don’t have the space to provide tiny houses for students.

“We made our point well and it was perceived,” Smith said.

Overall the lobbying trip to Sacramento was a success as ASO plans to make it a recurring event.

The trip cost $9,500 from Fund 72, the ASO Conferences fund, which is supported by the $2 student representation fee, ASO Vice President and political science major Isaac Alpert, 19, said.

While ASO members have traveled before to lobby in Washington, D.C., Alpert said this trip to the state government provided ASO the opportunity to have more impact with their lobbying.

“It’s important for anyone and everyone to be doing stuff like this. ASO isn’t just for poli-sci majors,” Muhammad, who is a biology major, said. “If you’re passionate about wanting to advocate for students and for wanting to bring change, it starts with you.”