Our 2022 legislative agenda centered the most urgent needs in our communities: passing overtime pay for farmworkers, establishing a system for universal legal representation for immigrant families facing deportation, and making progress on creating a public safety system that keeps all of us safe.
In just six short weeks, over 3,000 Oregonians contacted their lawmakers or testified in support of these policies. Through people power and collaboration, we passed the full Fair Shot agenda.
Farmworker Overtime (HB 4002) finally ends the exclusion of farmworkers from Oregon’s overtime laws. This exclusion is part of the shameful legacy of racism as legislators from the South explicitly pointed out the “racial question” involved in overtime wages to farmworkers. Starting in 2023, farmworkers will start earning overtime pay after 55 hours of work, over the next few years overtime pay will begin after 40 hours of work like other Oregon workers.
Universal Legal Representation (SB 1543) will improve access to justice and advance immigrant rights. The program will be flexible and able to respond to anticipated legalization programs or massive raids, a sudden influx of asylum seekers, or any other changes of the immigration system.Universal Legal Representation advances due process and access to justice for immigrant Oregonians by providing culturally sensitive, free immigration legal services to income-qualified Oregonians facing deportation. The program will have a major impact on access to legal support for immigrant Oregonians, and is likely to notably decrease unjust deportations in Oregon.
Transforming Justice (SB 1510) will reduce unnecessary interactions with law enforcement that increase risks of excessive force and violence, improve success for people on probation and parole, and fund services that reduce racial disparities prevalent in Oregon’s criminal justice system.
Finally, Oregon made significant investments that were included in the People’s Budget. From housing to childcare to direct payments to low income households these investments will lift up the communities that have been hardest hit by the pandemic and historic and ongoing underfunding and racial, gender, and economic oppression.
With these investments and systemic changes in our legislative policies, our communities can begin to heal and our whole state will be made stronger.