JUUstice Washington

A Unitarian Universalist State Action Network

Join a Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community Task Force

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The UUJEC is, of course, very interested in democracy. We need more of it in our own operations. Participating in a task force that conducts our work is a good way for you to promote justice in the denomination and in the world.

Please, examine this task force list to decide where you can make your best impact on the world. When you find one (or two), click on the adjacent survey monkey link. Ehttps://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9CSTZM3ach link opens an eight-question survey that asks when and how you can meet with other interested members.

 

Program Task Forces:

  Health Care     Leader: Judy Deutch     https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9CSTZM3

The Health Care Task Force works for health equity. We’re concerned about access to health care and the quality of health care. This task force works with the UUA to implement the Action of Immediate Witness, COVID-19 Pandemic: Justice, Healing, Courage. As part of this program,  we support  Medicare for All and congregation-based organizing for personal and social wellness.

Green New Deal    Leader: Lucy Hitchcock    https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9YZVWSP

The Green New Deal task force explores and educates on the natural, industrial, social, political and economic causes and consequences of climate change and the actions of prevention and restoration in which we can engage. The GND task force sponsors a webinar once a month, assembles resources on our web pages, and invites participation in our work and community.

Reparations for Racism      Leader: Carl McCargo       https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9CB9W6Z

The Reparations for Racism task force 1) studies the economic impacts of slavery and racism and 2) promotes restorative justice for those who have lost so much. The workshops this task force sponsors at General Assembly are very popular.

Housing Justice        Leader: Sally Gellert                   https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9JYGXCC

This new task force will address such issues as homelessness, exploitation of renters and borrowers, and discrimination in home sales and valuation.

 

Success for WA Immigrants in 2021 Session

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Our platform for the 2021 legislative session has been a total success. The budget provisos that we worked on this year made it into the budget and the two priority bills passed and were already signed by the governor!
This means the following:

Workers

  • There will be an income replacement program for Washington’s undocumented workers who lost their jobs or lost their income due to the pandemic. There will be an implementation process and afterwards we will be sharing more about the program and how your members will be able to access it. This proposal includes funds for a work group to create a proposal to create a permanent program for undocumented workers who suffer loss of income in similar cases.

Healthcare

  • $35 million was appropriated to provide healthcare services to people with little or no health coverage, regardless of immigration status. This will be provided through grants to providers, and
  • A long-term plan is also included – funds will be used so that the Health Benefit Exchange can explore opportunities to facilitate the enrollment of people excluded from Medicaid or federal programs, such as undocumented persons, to a state health program for the year 2024. One option for the Exchange is to develop an application for a federal waiver. Other exceptions were included.

Detention and deportation

  • HB1090, Banning Private Prisons, has been passed by the legislature and signed by the governor! The contract for the Northwest Detention Center expires in 2025 and cannot be renewed.

Legal services

  • HB1072, Eliminate Restrictions on the Use of Civil Legal Aid Funds, has been passed by the legislature and signed by the governor! This change will remove the restriction on the use of civil legal aid funds that does not allow the funds to be used to help undocumented persons.
We do not expect any pushback on the two budget provisos, but the healthcare equity coalition will send a letter to the governor to ask that he sign our healthcare proviso without any changes.

FARM WORKFORCE MODERNIZATION ACT (FWMA) IS BAD FOR FARMWORKERS-Please Add Your Opposition

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On Thursday March 18th the Farm Workforce Modernization Act passed the house with a 247-172 vote; the majority of votes in favor coming from Democrats.

C2C and Farmworker organizations nationally have opposed this legislation since it was introduced in 2019 during the Trump administration. We are deeply concerned that Democrats are giving in to political pressure to move quickly on immigration bills; with a dangerous tradeoff that will set in place the long-term implications of the FWMA.

We remain opposed to the FWMA as it is written.

We urge our supporters to reach out to your senators and tell them to vote “NO” on this bill.

While it is being touted as a bipartisan effort to attain a path for citizenship, what is being left out of the conversation is that this bill’s “path” sets up an 8-year period of exploitation that farmworkers have to survive in order to eventually qualify for citizenship. Workers who are injured during the eight-year process will be disqualified. The ultimate recommendation for citizenship will have to come from employers, which further entrenches the longstanding power imbalance between workers and farm owners.

Two dangerous long-term mandates in this bill are forcing agricultural employers to use E-Verify, the faulty audit system that has resulted in massive detention and deportation. This will put millions of undocumented people living and working in the United States at risk.

The other mandate is linking legalization to the exploitative federal H2A (guest worker) program, and permanently expanding it, making it harder for workers to organize and easier for corporate agriculture to obtain and exploit cheap labor, instead of hiring farmworkers already living in the U.S.

Read our joint statement with the Food Chain Workers Alliance here.

Sign on to Oppose FWMA Here!
Call and write your senators THIS WEEK and ask them to vote NO on the FWMA. Find your senator’s contact info here!

HB 1412 Legal Financial Obligations

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In 2018, the legislature passed a bill reducing legal financial obligations (LFO) imposed on defendants convicted of crimes. At that time, LFO legislation was one of the priorities identified at the 2017 Justice Summit. LFO’s are court costs and other financial costs that recently incarcerated people are required to pay after release, and they can deter them from paying other costs such as housing or job searches. HB 1412 would reduce these costs even more because it:

  • Allows a court to refrain from imposing or waive full or partial restitution and accrued interest owed to any insurer or entity that is not an individual if the offender does not have the means to pay.
  • Allows a court to not impose interest on restitution after inquiring into and considering specified factors and input of the victim.
  • Revises standards for the waiver of accrued interest on restitution and non-restitution obligations.
  • Revises the time periods in which judgments for restitution and non restitution legal financial obligations may be enforced.
  • Establishes a revised standard of indigency for purposes of a number of provisions applicable to legal financial obligations.

Take Action: you can contact your representatives to support the bill by clicking on the bill number, HB 1412, which will take you to the bill information page on the legislative website. Then click on “Comment on this Bill,” fill in details to find your reps, and indicate that you support the bill. Below are some the comments made during hearings on February 3, 2021.

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Carbon Pollution Bill SB 5373 “Washington Strong”

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While SB 5373 is not one of the environmental priorities identified at the Justice Summit, a number of people have expressed interest in the bill. The bill appears to be dead for the session, but there is some possibility of its revival in the budget negotiations. Information below provides some background and notes on a hearing on March 4, 2021.

Provisions of the bill:

  • It imposes a carbon pollution tax beginning January 1, 2022, equal to $25 per metric ton of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on the sale or use of all fossil fuel within the state of Washington, except for the sale or use of electricity in Washington generated using fossil fuels.
  • It increases the tax rate annually by inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, plus 5 percent beginning July 1, 2023.
  • It establishes a ten-year climate finance program using carbon tax revenue and a bond program to reduce GHG emissions and increase the resilience of Washington’s natural resources to the impacts of climate change

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