Here is a summary of PCUN’s 2017 Legislative Priorities & Victories
SB 558-Cover all Kids: SB 558 ensures all Oregon children have the same access to health care, regardless of residency status. Oregon will become the 7th state in the country to provide health care for all children. The Cover All Kids legislation will: (1) Extend health care coverage through the Oregon Health Plan for all children in Oregon up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, (2) Ensure that culturally and linguistically appropriate community-based outreach is conducted to maximize enrollment.
HB 3464 Privacy Law: Protects the privacy of immigrant families by prohibiting the exchange of certain confidential information for the use of migration. HB 3464 will also provide much-needed direction and procedures by the attorney-General of Oregon for schools, health clinics and other public entities and services on how to handle the federal government’s requests for information.
SB 828-Fair Work week: The first Fair Scheduling Law in the country. Part of the Fair Work Week Coalition.The bill will apply to retail, hotel, and food service establishments that have 500 or more employees worldwide. It will require the employers to give employees two weeks’ notice of their work schedules, to pay for last-minute employer-requested schedule changes, and to separate shifts by at least 10 hours. The bill pre-empts local governments from passing their own scheduling requirements. It will take effect July 1, 2018, with its penalty provisions taking effect Jan. 1, 2019.
HB 2355- End Racial Profiling Bill: Will require law enforcement departments to begin collecting and retaining standardized demographic data on all officer-initiated pedestrian and traffic stops. The bill also requires mandatory training in cultural competency and implicit bias for all state and local law enforcement officers in Oregon and establishes a statewide system to hold law enforcement departments accountable for profiling practices.
HB 3391-The Reproductive Healthy Equity Act– Removes financial barriers and ensures that every Oregonian is empowered to make their own decisions about whether and when to become a parent. The legislation will: (1) Require all commercial plans to cover the entire cost of the full range of reproductive health services – including family planning, vasectomy and abortion – without deductible or co-pay by the patient, (2) Establish coverage for reproductive health care, especially postpartum care for new mothers for Oregonians who are categorically excluded from health programs due to citizenship status, (3) Assure access without government interference to the full range of reproductive healthcare, including abortion, (4) Prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity in reproductive health coverage.
HB 2845–Develops Ethnic Studies standards- Directs the Department of Education to convene a group of 14 individuals—each with different backgrounds including—who will advise the state on where “it fails to recognize the histories, contributions, and perspectives of ethnic minorities and social minorities. Directs Department of Education to add and adopt “Ethnic Studies” standards to current social studies standards for Oregon public K-12 schools by 2020. Requires the Department of Education to “publish annual reports on the progress of the implementation of the ethnic studies standards.
HB 2864-Cultural Competency: Requires each community college and public university to establish process for recommending, and providing oversight for implementation of, cultural competency standards for institution and institution’s employees
HB 3279: Creates a new category of labor contractor for licensing by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries and requires additional training for managers, supervisors and employees. As a result, groups such as Janitorial subcontractors will receive additional protections from wage theft and sexual assault.
