Oregon Action

During the 2023 legislative session, we hosted a legislative launch event and a lobby day event before the second chamber committee deadline. These events combined saw over 150 community participants. Our members, board, and staff met with 25 legislators to advocate for our annual Action agenda. The 2023 legislative session highlighted how important community working together is for achieving actual change. We saw members join from chapters throughout the state, including rogue valley, metro area, bend, the coast, and willamette valley. There are many steps to this process, and we saw people participate in listening sessions, testimony training, hearings, lobbying, and advocacy actions. Unite Oregon continued its advocacy for policy changes to reduce the disparities experienced by bipoc communities and people experiencing poverty. Our priority bills included the following: community resilience hubs (hb 3409, formerly hb 2990) - establishes centralized locations for people and resources to gather before, during, and after natural disasters. Status - passed emergency housing for all (hb 3462). Summary - ensure emergency housing meets fair housing standards. Status - passed stable homes for Oregon families (sb611). Summary - provides tenant rent stabilization protections. Status - passed food for all oregonians (sb610). Summary - creates a state-funded food assistance program for people who currently meet the income threshold to qualify for snap but are excluded solely based on their immigration status. Status - died. Guaranteeing the right to vote (sb579). Summary - restore voting rights / allow incarcerated oregonians to register to vote, update voter registration, and participate in elections based on where they resided before incarceration. Status - died. Housing minimum wage (hb2699). Summary - this was our first session working with rep. gamba on this housing bill. This groundbreaking policy would connect the minimum wage formula to the cost of housing - a working person's wage would be required to equal that of ? The cost of a 1 br apartment in the region. Status - died. In the spring, we also lightly engaged in electora work which included school board tracking, endorsements, voter education, and get out the vote activities.