Black Policy Month, Imagine Black’s 2022 Legislative Agenda
Oregon’s Legislative Session began on February 1st. This year it is a short session, meaning that we only have five weeks to push for policies that provide real and immediate improvements in our lives.
Like many Black-led organizations, Imagine Black had to shift the way we work to meet the need due to the mental health challenges of COVID-19 and the constant violence towards Black people. Both challenges have influenced our internal capacity. As a result, our legislative agenda is narrowly focused for 2022.
Our 2022 legislative priorities will be focused on advancing democracy, strengthening families, reimaging public safety, and economic justice.
2022 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
ADVANCING DEMOCRACY
Restoration of Voting Rights
Voting is a civil right. Yet, Oregon still has a law in place from the 1850s that uses Jim Crow era policies to restrict Black people’s right to vote. In 2022, we have the opportunity to overturn more than a century of voter disenfranchisement. This bill will restore the right to vote to citizens currently serving prison sentences for felony convictions.
Online Voter Registration Modernization (OVR+)
Currently, Oregonians without an Oregon-issued driver’s license must register to vote with a paper form because they don’t have a signature on file with the DMV. An expanded online voter registration system (OVR+) allows for registrants to upload an image of their signature and register online with the last four digits of their social security number. With an OVR+ system, more Oregonians will be able to conveniently and accessibly register to vote and update their registrations.
STRENGTHENING FAMILIES
Child Care Investment Package
Working families need quality, affordable child care for economic stability and the wellbeing of their children. Oregon has faced a child care crisis that has only grown during the pandemic, disrupting families and the state’s workforce. Child care workers are disproportionately women of color, and BIPOC families have insufficient access to affordable child care. This legislation would make child care more affordable, grow child care supply, stabilize the workforce, and streamline our state’s childcare system.
REIMAGING PUBLIC SAFETY
Transforming Justice
We all deserve to feel safe and be treated with dignity, but far too many of us—particularly Black, Indigenous, and other people of color—feel vulnerable and unprotected in our own communities. This legislation would advance safety, economic opportunity, and healing by reducing unnecessary interactions with law enforcement, providing opportunities to succeed for people returning home from incarceration, and investing in services to heal people of color as they work to rebuild their lives.
ECONOMIC JUSTICE
Equity Investment Act
After decades of over-policing, discriminatory policies, and the War on Drugs, we must increase pathways to economic opportunity for the Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities most impacted by these unjust policies. This legislation would establish an Equity Investment Fund, allocating $50 million to provide grants to culturally-responsive community based organizations to support entrepreneurship, workforce development, and paths to home and land ownership.
COALITION OF COMMUNITIES OF COLOR PLATFORM
We’re proud to not only be a member of the Coalition of Communities of Color but to also have participated in their legislative endorsement process. In 2022, the Coalition of Communities of Color will be focused on: Strengthening Families through Environmental Justice, Education, Economic Justice, Child Care, Immigrant Justice, Public Safety, and Advancing Democracy.
Learn more about the Coalition of Communities of Color 2022 legislative platform.