Tell Lawmakers to Vote their Conscience: NO on HB 4002

On Monday, February 26 at 5 PM, Oregon lawmakers — through the Joint Interim Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response — will hear and receive testimony on the addiction crisis in Oregon.

Your engagement in our state’s democratic processes has made it harder for Democratic legislators to get the votes they need on HB 4002 from Democrats alone. So they’re working with Republican legislators to get their votes.

This means that the upcoming amendments to HB 4002 will be even worse than before.

We’ve learned:
HB 4002’s impacts will be severe, harsh and create more suffering across Oregon, no different from what the regressive ballot measure would do: In practice, HB 4002 won’t be much different from the regressive, harsh policies pushed by the so-called “Fix and Improve Ballot Measure 110” interest group, which is led by the former head of Oregon prisons and funded by billionaires.

Geography-based access to justice is no justice at all: Counties and police will no longer be required to offer treatment to people instead of jail; providing treatment will be optional. What this means is that someone addicted to drugs in one county may be arrested and left to suffer and potentially die in jail, while a person in the next county over might be offered access to treatment services instead of jail.

This bill will harm people who can’t afford an attorney and victims of crime: Lawmakers are continuing to ignore the fact that there will be no public defense attorneys available any time soon for the likely thousands of new cases that recriminalization will inject into the criminal system. This will impact the many criminal cases before our courts, and it will harm people who cannot afford an attorney and victims of crime too, whose cases won’t be able to move forward.

We need Oregonians to tell state lawmakers: Vote your conscience -- NO on HB4002!

1. FILL OUT OUR ACTION ALERT TO SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY — it only takes a few minutes!
   1. Use this link
   2. Complete the form with your contact information (this will be kept private)
   3. Edit the message to fit your personal experience and keep in mind that testimony is public — do not include information that you would like to remain private
2. SIGN UP TO GIVE VERBAL TESTIMONY — remotely or in-person at the Capitol in Salem.
   1. Use this link
   2. Click on "register to testify"
   3. Select ‘Joint Interim Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response’
   4. Select the ‘2/26/24 5:00 PM' hearing
   5. Select HB 4002
   6. Enter your name, email, and organization or city
   7. Select the ‘Oppose’ option
   8. Select ‘In Person’ or ‘Remotely’ (People there in person are more likely to be called up to testify)
   9. Upload your testimony, either as text or a PDF
   10. You can review our 'How-To' for virtual testimony
   11. Remember that testimony will likely be limited to two minutes, or approximately 200 words. However, it is still very important for you to attend and testify in-person, if you can.

You can ALso learn more about this work at our hub for Solutions for Safe and Just Communities!