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Former Legislator Describes How Senate Bill 30 and a Centennial Commission Sparked the Monument
Summary
A bipartisan centennial commission created by Senate Bill 30, proponents said, organized celebrations for the suffrage centennial and then pursued a lasting monument; Senator Stephanie Coonsie described the legislative origin and commission work.
Former state legislator and commission member Stephanie Coonsie described discovering no statewide suffrage commemoration plans during the approach to the 100th anniversary and drafting Senate Bill 30 to create a Women's Centennial Suffrage Commission.
"She and I wrote Senate Bill 30, which was to create the Women's Centennial Suffrage Commission," Coonsie said, recounting bipartisan outreach to history and arts organizations and explaining that a group of about 18 citizens and organizations sustained the effort through COVID delays and converted celebrations into a lasting monument project.
Coonsie said the commission used public events, youth engagement and research into national monument representation (which showed fewer than 8 percent of public statues depict real women) to justify a permanent Statehouse installation. The commission then guided a transparent artist selection and fundraising strategy that included stakeholder tours, finalist presentations and unanimous votes by selection bodies.
