January 18, 2023
Tools for contacting the House Community Safety, Justice, & Reentry Committee on House Bill 1087 ASAP and before their executive session (committee vote on whether to send the bill to the full House) at 8:00 am, January 19:
Address your email to (you can copy and paste these active links to send one email to all of them): ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Include this in your message, with your own revisions if you want:
I am writing to urge your support of HB 1087. This bill would put into law and strengthen the restrictions on the use of solitary confinement in our state prisons that the current leadership of the Dept. of Corrections has begun. I have a deep concern about the inhumanity of isolating prisoners for extended periods of time and the well-documented negative impact of extended human isolation on mental health, especially of those already mentally unstable and ill. I acknowledge, as does the bill, that an individual may choose to be isolated, or need to be isolated for their personal or community safety. But solitary confinement should be used sparingly and with limitations, recognizing the humanity in each of us.
Sign it with your name and city or town.
You can identify yourself with Quaker Voice if you choose.
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January 16, 2023
Quaker Voice citizen lobbyists,
Please sign in Pro on SB 5189, Establishing Behavioral Health Support Specialists, before 9:30 am this Thursday, January 19.
Mental health care in Washington is facing a well-documented crisis. Those needing behavioral health services at all levels, from crisis intervention to outpatient counseling and care placement, face long waits or no help at all. This is especially true for our most vulnerable populations such as children, rural residents, unhoused people and immigrants.
The training and retention of behavioral health workers at all levels from peer counselors to PhD level is one of the biggest barriers. SB 5189 would expand the workforce by establishing a new category of “behavioral health specialists,” authorized to make brief, evidenced-based interventions under the supervision of a behavioral health professional. The bill creates a pathway to progressing in the behavioral health career track and frees other behavioral health professionals to operate at the top of their scope of practice.
So please use the link above to voice your support with the Senate Committee on Health & Long Term Care, which is holding a hearing on the bill at 10:30 that day. After you sign in, don’t forget to register for Quaker Lobby Day on February 20 through the Quaker Voice website.
Thank you,
The Quaker Voice Board
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January 8, 2023
Friends,
Please sign in Pro by Wednesday morning to support Bill HB 1045, Creating the evergreen basic income pilot program.
Funding for Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) is vital to supporting financial security for some of our state’s most vulnerable residents. This would make it possible for many Washington residents to have discretionary funds necessary to pay for essentials like groceries, insurance, utilities, or rent. Monthly distributions would be based on a percentage of Area Median Income, which varies in different parts of the state. Quaker Voice supports the creation of the Evergreen Basic Income Trust which will provide funding for a Washington State pilot GBI program. Recent Seattle Times coverage of a smaller pilot in Tacoma shows how effective this approach is.
The bill is scheduled for a hearing in the House Committee on Human Services, Youth, & Early Learning at 1:30 PM on Wednesday, January 11. You can indicate your support for this Quaker Voice priority bill before 12:30 that day through the sign-in route. If you want to provide more, you can give a comment using the link in the upper right-hand corner of the bill information page (“comment on this bill”) at any time.
Thank you,
The Quaker Voice Board