2023 Legislative Recap
Oregon’s 2023 state lawmaking session was unique and historic in many ways. First, there were many new legislators and new leadership in each chamber, and most notably, the session was derailed by Oregon’s longest legislative walk-out in history. A total of ten Republicans and one Independent refused to participate in Senate floor sessions for a record-breaking six weeks, leaving hundreds of bills and the state budget in peril. Despite the many challenges that arose this session, determined advocates were still able to support the passage of critical policies in a wide range of issues areas, including advancing democracy, child care, economic justice, environmental justice, housing, and more.
The Coalition of Communities of Color is excited about wins for racial justice this session, but we recognize that progress was limited due to the walk-out. We know we must work to hold legislators accountable and strategize meaningful ways to prevent walk-outs from continuing to undermine our state democracy.
You can read about how each bill on our original legislative agenda fared here.
Wins for Racial Justice and Missed Opportunities
Advancing Democracy
At a time when voter dissatisfaction in our elections continues to grow, it is essential that Oregon takes robust action to strengthen our democracy and create more pathways for all voices in our state to be heard.
Oregon made history by becoming the first state to refer a comprehensive ranked choice voting ballot measure, HB 2004, to the November 2024 ballot, which will allow voters to decide whether to use ranked choice voting in future primary and general elections for statewide and federal elections. CCC looks forward to supporting passage of this ballot measure in November 2024 alongside other organizations such as Oregon Ranked Choice Voting Advocates.
Although progress was made, Oregon missed additional opportunities to create a more inclusive democracy. SB 579 did not pass, which would have guaranteed the right to vote for people impacted by the criminal legal system. HB 2650 also did not pass, which would have established requirements for workgroups and task forces to center those most impacted by an issue. Both of these priorities are crucial to create a more inclusive democracy, and we hope the Oregon Legislature will pass them in a future session.
Lastly, the Opportunity to Serve Coalition worked tirelessly to champion SB 786 to address the financial barriers to serving in the Oregon Legislature, given that many cannot support themselves on the current salary of just $32,839. Ultimately, the Oregon Legislature passed SJR 34 in an attempt to address this issue. This outcome is disheartening to the advocates of SB 786 as described in a recent press release, given that the Oregon Legislature is delaying the urgency to reduce barriers that hinder people of color, LGBTQ+ people, young people, and many other groups from serving in office.
Child Care
Oregon’s economy is dependent on equitable access to child care that is affordable, high quality, and community-led.
Our state continued to make progress in creating child care infrastructure and supporting workforce development. HB 3005 included $50 million in Lottery Bonds that were allocated to Business Oregon to fund projects and $5 million that was allocated to the Department of Early Learning and Care to contract for technical assistance to support providers in accessing the child care infrastructure fund. In addition, more than $11 million in shovel ready early childhood projects were funded. $300,000 was allocated to the Department of Early Learning and Care for community partners to gather input and craft recommendations for workforce pathway improvements in HB 2991. HB 2727 allocated $225,000 to the Department of Land Conservation and Development to bring together stakeholders to identify challenges, best practices, and make recommendations that address how state and local zoning, permitting, and building codes inhibit or support childcare facilities. Lastly, the passage of SB 599 means that landlords can no longer prevent licensed child care providers from operating in rental homes which will help to expand services.
Although necessary investments and improvements were made in child care this lawmaking session, the allocated funding is not sufficient to address the comprehensive needs of families and children in our state, and child care remains largely underfunded. Much more work needs to be done to improve access and enrollment in child care and to support workforce development, and we hope the solutions of HB 3027 and HB 3029, which did not pass, are re-introduced. For more details about these budget cuts and setbacks, please read a press release from the Child Care for Oregon coalition.
Criminal Legal Reform & COMMUNITY SAFETY
Our criminal legal system is failing thousands of Oregonians, especially people of color and low-income people. Structural change is crucial to ensure that those who are faced with interacting with the criminal legal system have access to fair representation, resources, and support.
To begin improving the public defense system, advocates made progress with the passage of SB 337, which will help bridge staffing shortages and allow the state to collect more accurate and reliable compensation standards for nonprofit contract attorneys. Although SB 337 passed, additional priorities of In Defense of Humanity did not move forward, including HB 2467 and SB 413, aimed at improving workforce recruitment and retention which are critical issues that must be addressed.
SB 581 also passed, which will promote people’s success during their community supervision by providing regular progress updates to people on supervision and making requirements consistent, no matter when someone was convicted.
Finally, to support survivors of intentional trauma such as gunshot or stab wounds, $750,000 was allocated to the Healing Hurt People program. Additionally, $3 million was allocated for a statewide violence prevention program through POIC.
Economic Justice
The ability for our communities to obtain self-determination, wellness, and prosperity is directly connected to how economic policies are designed.
The Oregon Legislature and advocates celebrated a historic win with the passage of the Oregon Kids’ Credit, HB 3235, which makes Oregon one of the few states in the nation to establish a state child tax credit designed to help low-income families with young children make ends meet. Furthermore, to improve data collection in our revenue system, SB 1 will allow taxpayers to voluntarily self-identify their race and ethnicity on their income tax form. This critical information so we can better analyze the impacts of our tax policy based on race and ethnicity.
Two of CCC’s other economic justice priorities did not advance: SB 610 would have created an inclusive state-funded program to help all Oregonians put food on the table regardless of their immigration status, and no new funding for Independent Development Accounts, an important asset-building strategy, was included in the 2023–25 biennial budget.
Education
Our public education system functions best when all students feel seen and supported, especially historically marginalized students.
To best support the needs of Oregon’s Pacific Islander students, HB 3144 creates a Pacific Islander Student Success Plan that can carry out this vision. As Oregon implements new K–12 ethnic studies standards, SB 1050 allocates funding to ensure educators have access to the resources they need to successfully implement these standards.
One of CCC’s core areas of focus is data quality and best practices. CCC worked with Oregon Partners for Education Justice to introduce HB 3288 to standardize the way schools collect data on race and ethnicity from their students. While it did not pass, CCC will continue our partnership on this issue.
environmental Justice
As climate change worsens, people of color, immigrants, refugees, low-income residents, and marginalized communities are disproportionately bearing the brunt of the negative impacts.
The Oregon Legislature passed the Climate Resilience Package, HB 3409, to help build out the infrastructure necessary to mitigate the harmful impacts of the changing climate. HB 3049 will create resource hubs across the state to support climate preparedness, emergency response, and disaster recovery. The package includes the TREES Act, which establishes a green infrastructure grant program for local investments in green infrastructure and urban tree canopy improvements as well as water quality improvements.
CCC also supported environmental priorities related to community-benefiting water infrastructure (HB 2988) and renewable energy and transmission siting reform (HB 2989) which did not pass, but we hope will continue to be discussed as avenues to strengthen our responses to the changing climate.
Housing
Oregon is experiencing a housing crisis that includes a shortage of affordable housing, coupled with skyrocketing rent prices, and more people being one set-back away from losing their home.
To help address the ongoing housing crisis, CCC supported the legislative agenda of Stable Homes for Oregon Families, which included four key items, three of which passed. HB 2001 will help reduce evictions by giving people more time after receiving a notice of rent non-payment before being taken to court to ensure they are better able to access rent assistance. SB 611 will help address spiking rents by limiting rent increases to 10%, improving on the existing rent stabilization law that has allowed for extreme rent increases. Additionally, more than $80 million was allocated for emergency rent assistance and displacement prevention services.
The final agenda item of this package that did not pass was HB 3169, which would have helped local communities know more about local housing needs by developing a statewide central registry of rental units.
On to the 2024 Session
Thank you to the incredible advocates who organized their communities, educated legislators on the importance of racial justice priorities, and ultimately secured the votes to pass historic wins. Our state has much more progress to make to ensure that our systems and policies help communities of color, immigrants, refugees, low-income people, and all Oregonians access life-affirming resources to thrive. The missed opportunities of legislation that did not pass this lawmaking session are critical for our state lawmakers to continue to address in the future, from policies that will ensure all Oregonians have food at their table regardless of their immigration status, to increased funding for child care access, to stronger workforce development support in our public defense system, and much more. We know we will be back stronger next year and work together to lead these missed opportunities to victory, and take on new priorities to advance racial justice in Oregon.
Support Our Work
Our legislative advocacy work is only possible through the support of our donors. Systemic change relies on individual supporters who believe in our mission for racial justice. Please consider celebrating our victories and preparing for the work ahead by making a contribution today. Thank you.