Monthly Meeting Tomorrow, Tuesday, 5:00pm Register Now! Don’t miss tomorrow’s monthly meeting with guest speaker Julia Meier, project manager for the City of Portland’s new Charter Commission, and learn about the status of the current review of the city’s charter. Once a decade a 20-member Charter Commission is convened to review Portland’s founding document, considering ways to improve city government. Julia will lead the complex process of developing recommendations for consideration by the City Council and, ultimately, Portland voters. The meeting begins at 5:00pm. Register here to attend. You’ll receive a confirmation email with details for joining the meeting, and you’ll find the meeting’s agenda here. Keeping Up with the Oregon Legislature The A4D/COIN Legislative Team has been busy reviewing legislative bills and has made more recommendations. Below is a list of additional bills A4D supports: Immigration
The Sanctuary Act, HB3265, prohibits all levels of collaboration and cooperation with ICE.
Climate
Oregon Clean Energy Affordability Act, HB2475, gives the Public Utilities Commission the ability to start determining how best to mitigate the energy burdens on low-income customers.
HB 2021 sets clean energy goals for electricity generation and storage that regulate greenhouse gas emissions below at least 40% by 2025, 80% by 2030, 90% by 2035, and 100% by 2040.
Housing
HB 2006 provides flexible siting for homeless shelters during the pandemic (until June 2022).
HB 2004 provides funding to companion bill HB 2006.
Campaign Finance/Election Reform
SJR 4 refers an amendment to the Constitution reducing the legislature’s quorum rule to a majority.
SB 261 prohibits legislators from soliciting or using contributions to pay fines or legal expenses, replace salary, defray expenses, or otherwise compensate for monetary losses incurred as a result of unexcused absences from sessions.
SB 262 prohibits legislators who have an unexcused absence during a session from receiving their salary, per diem or expense reimbursement, and imposes a fine of $500/day of unexcused absence. It also prohibits political contributions from being used to pay fines or legal fees, replace salary, or defray expenses.
SJR3 proposes a Constitutional amendment to bar legislators who, without permission or excuse, do not attend 10 or more scheduled legislative floor sessions from holding office the following term.
To learn more, visit the Oregon Legislative Information System; find your Oregon legislators here.
A4D Website Now that we’ve become Act for Democracy, a bigger and more effective Indivisible group thanks to combining the resources and memberships of One Small Thing PDX and Indivisible97201, we need a website that reflects our new organization. Though still a work in progress, check out how the website is coming together here. And if you’ve got any great photos that reflect who we are and what we do, please send them to a4dpdx@gmail.com.
An Immigration Reform Event of Interest
A forum with Senator Hirono addressing comprehensive immigration reforms will take place Saturday, March 27. Check it out here.
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