Dear OSTPDX Members,
Much of One Small Thing PDX’s energy is being used to make real change happen during the current legislative session. The Legislative Task Force has been busy researching dozens of bills and has made available information on ways to track bills, who's supporting what bill and the policy reasons behind them. The information gets updated periodically so be sure to check back. Also, on our new website, you’ll find our Oregon State Legislative Calendar which has dates and details on lobby days and committee hearings for an array of issues.
I’m sure many of you have already read the recent Oregonian article How corporate cash corrupted one of the greenest states in America and are shocked and enraged to learn that Oregon’s campaign finance system is a disaster, to the detriment of our environment and surely a host of other issues. If you’re fired up and want to know what’s happening with campaign finance reform this legislative session, check out the Task Force’s Research Summary Grids where you’ll find details on current needs for this issue.
As you read on, you’ll discover that there’s a huge need for OSTPDX’s members to get involved in the legislative process which could happen in a variety of ways. One of those ways is for people to testify to the Oregon State Legislature. Phyllis Brown has written an article on what that actually entails:
Hard to believe the words “fun” and “easy” could be attached to testifying to the Oregon State Legislature. In the linked document, I share my recent experience and hope to encourage you to do the same about a bill that you care about.
Please feel free to contact me if you have questions or need a little encouragement-Phyllis Brown
“True Confession of a Novice Witness to the Oregon State Legislature and Ten Easy Steps to Help Make it a Fun and Productive Experience”
Announcements
On February 17 OSTPDX had its first collaborative meeting with NWGSD. 130 folks were in attendance, the jazz band, Flatbacks, entertained and Rep Smith Warner and Hilary Uhlig informed us about the intricacies of passing legislation and how to be an effective citizen lobbyist. Our small group leaders inspired us to take action on housing (Alison McIntosh from Neighborhood Partnership), climate action (Madison Daisy Hathaway from Renew Oregon), gun violence prevention (Hilary Uhlig of Moms Demand Action), paid family leave (Andrea Paluso from Family Forward), and Rep Smith Warner discussing funding of education.
Let’s give a huge thank you to Audrey Goldfarb and Sambaran Chatterjee, local videographers and filmmakers) who recorded and created a video for the event.
Please check it out! You will be entertained, informed and inspired.
More from Audrey Goldfarb: https://audreality.wordpress.com https://facebook.com/audreality
Women’s March PDX
OSTPDX will have a table at the Portland Women’s March on Sunday, March 3rd from 12-3 pm at the PSU Park Blocks. Please join us at our table for an immediate action to be done at the event and then for the march.
OSTPDX Announces Monthly Meetings for March and April 2019
Join OSTPDX for an in-depth discussion of Immigration: We Are All Neighbors-How to
Support Our Immigrant Communities in Oregon
Tuesday, March 12 at Subud Center, 3185 NE Regents Drive, Portland. Doors open at 6:45 for 7:00 program.
We are delighted to have Andrea Williams of CAUSA and Lisa LeSage of Immigration Consulting Services give us insights on immigration issues in Oregon with some national context. They are the experts working on these issues and solving problems every day.
We’ll look at the:
*availability of legal services in Portland and more rural areas
*the driver’s license bill in Oregon Legislature
*advocacy for immigrants throughout Oregon
Our small group sessions will then focus on what actions we can take as engaged citizens to ensure our immigrant neighbors are getting the rights and services they need and deserve!
Beyond Prison: What are we doing in Oregon about Criminal Justice Reform?
Tuesday, April 9 at Subud Center, 3185 NE Regents Drive, Portland. Doors open at 6:45 for 7:00 program.
In 2018, a report by the nonprofit Sentencing Project found that African Americans are “overrepresented in every aspect of Multnomah County’s (and Oregon’s) criminal justice system.”
Bobbin Singh, Executive Director of the Oregon Justice Resource Center response was, “As Oregonians we should be embarrassed by this and work hard to transform our criminal justice system…”
The Oregon Justice Resource Center is a civil rights organization providing direct legal services and policy initiatives for underrepresented communities in our state’s justice system. Singh and other OJRC staff will speak about criminal justice reform for the OST April 9th program. They address what we can do to change racial and other inequities in the system including the incarceration of youth and women and related bills before the Oregon legislature this session.
HELP NEEDED with set up or clean up for the March 12 One Small Thing-PDX Meeting.
Do you have time to help other One Small Thing members assist in setting up for the next One Small Thing meeting on the evening of March 12? From 6:15 to until the program starts at 7, we need help moving chairs and other items to set up the room and to greet people as they arrive for the program. If you can’t arrive early, you can still help with clean up for a few minutes after 9 at the end of the social time. Either way, you are making a valuable contribution and getting to know other group members better.
If interested, contact Jacque Abel at jacque.abel@comcast.net in the next week and she will give you with more details plus meet you at the event.
We also NEED HELP with note taking at upcoming general meetings, small groups, committees, etc. If you have availability to take brief notes of key points and decisions to help One Small Thing in various upcoming projects, contact Jacque Abel at jacque.abel@comcast.net for details and upcoming dates. You need to have a laptop to bring to a meeting and send out the notes.
Activities & Actions
Actions:
In favor of National Popular Vote? Write a Letter-to-the-Editor in Oregon to show your support!
Revenue Needed to Fund our Legislative Priorities
Our list of needs in Oregon is long and our revenue is not keeping up. A priority among progressives is advocating for our schools, housing, healthcare, family leave, climate change, gun safety and more. While only some of these need money, progressives need to say where we get the money for those priorities that need it. We need to get educated and put pressure on our legislators for progressive revenue reform NOW!
One Small Thing is called to join other progressives in this effort. The Revenue Roundtable is a coalition that has agreed on four tax principles that we require in revenue legislation. The tax principles are:
Progressivity: Tax policies should ensure higher-income Oregonians contribute a larger share of their resources than those with less
Adequacy: Tax policies must raise enough revenue to fund the public services that create opportunity for all
Equity: Policies should foster equitable outcomes based on race, ethnicity, and gender
Viability: Whatever the legislature approves must be successfully defended at the ballot box.
Representatives of the Revenue Roundtable will present these principles to the Revenue Subcommittee of the Committee on Student Success from 5 – 7 PM on Tuesday, February 26. We encourage you to come be a presence in Salem.
We also ask you to call your legislators and tell them you share these four principles. And if you want to wade in further, here are some options in raising revenue. If we don’t, they assume we don’t care.
We could use your help! If you are interested in this work, we invite you to contact us.lynn@lynnyoungbar.com and erin.conroy@gmail.com. Find more detail here.
Actions by Indivisible Oregon:
OSTPDX, along with other local progressive grassroots groups, are collaborating to help Indivisible Oregon highlight their Tuesday action call of the week in email communications and across social media. We ask that you visit their website indivisibleor.org/actions every Tuesday morning where the action of week will be posted by 6AM, take the action and share on social media and/or via email with your circle.
Indivisible Tuesday message: Congress must defend the constitution, act as a co-equal branch of government, and pass a resolution to revoke the national emergency. The vote will be on Tuesday. We must call our MoCs and implore them to vote yes on the resolution.
Activities:
Moms Demand Action is holding their Advocacy Day on Tuesday, February 26th starting at 9am in Salem. RSVP here: https://west-moms.ngpvanhost.com/ngpvanforms/29289
Indivisible Oregon’s daily action on Monday will focus on HR 8 (universal background checks) and will also ask people to participate in the Lobby Day the next day. This is also a Call to Action Day for the Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network, a coalition of 19 Indivisible groups statewide.
For the calls/emails/asks this week, Moms encourages people to email and call their State Senator and Rep to request they pass legislation that will:
Pass domestic violence relinquishment (Currently, if someone is convicted of domestic violence or stalking, they are prohibited from purchase or possession of firearms. If they try to buy a gun, they will fail a background check and be prevented from purchasing. But if they already have firearms, we need to strengthen the law on the method and timeframe in which they must relinquish their firearms.)
Encourage responsible storage of firearms with a cable lock, trigger lock, or gun safe, and gun owners must be held responsible if their unsecured firearm is accessed by a child or used to cause harm (It is the responsibility of the gun owner to use and store firearms in a manner that reduces the risk of access by others, including curious toddlers, impulsive or depressed teens, adults who lose their judgment due to anger or substance abuse.)
OSTPDX Activist Reading Group’s next meeting
Thursday, March 28, 7-8:30pm at the home of Paulette and Lynn Wittwer, 2316 NE Tillamook Street, Portland.
We will be discussing: “White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” by Robin DiAngelo and Michael Eric Dyson.
“Groundbreaking book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when discussing racism that serve to protect their positions and maintain racial inequality. Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, anti-racist educator Robin DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what can be done to engage more constructively.” (Goodreads)
Other Upcoming Events:
Action Night: Stand Up to Oil Trains! Wednesday, 2/27 from 6:30-8
Latinx Legislative Lobby Day: Thursday, 2/28 from 10-2
Talking Across the Political Divide: Saturday 3/2 at 1pm & Sunday 3/10 at 1pm
Basic Rights Oregon 2019 Lobby Day: Tuesday, March 5th from 10-5
OCN / OLCV Lobby Day 2019: Thursday, March 21st from 9-5
No LNG Exports Lobby Day 2019: Thursday, March 28th from 9:30-4
Articles
Check out our website – www.onesmallthingpdx.org – like our Facebook page -- https://www.facebook.com/One-Small-Thing-150519055702228/ -- follow our Twitter account -- @onepdx.
Regards,
Sara McKinney
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