Commission on African American Affairs
Legislative Agenda 2008
As chair and vice chair of the Commission on African American Affairs, we present for your consideration the Commission’s Legislative Agenda for 2008. If you’re unsure about what proposals to discuss with legislators before or during Legislative Day on Feb. 4, here are some options you may wish to consider:
- Sen. Rosa Franklin just introduced SB 6205 to create a Joint Select Committee on Sickle Cell Disease. The Commission supports this proposal.
- Rep. Eric Pettigrew just introduced HB 2722 to create a strategic task force on reducing the achievement gap for African American students. The Commission supports this proposal in concept and wishes to support it during the upcoming session. No bill number has yet been assigned.
- HB 2306 would require school districts to report to OSPI on disciplinary actions in schools and to disaggregate disciplinary data by race, age, grade, and disability status.
- SB 5415 would create a state-level “school health” advisory council to help coordinate multiple entities working on student and school health. Preliminary evidence shows that coordinated school health programs help narrow the achievement gap affecting students of color.
- HB 1473 would restore the voting rights of felons who are no longer “in total confinement,” even when fines and fees (Legal Financial Obligations) are owed. Rep. Darnielle attended our work session in Tacoma and explained the politics of this bill. We expect legislative leadership to manage this bill in accord with those politics. Meanwhile, this type of legislation should have a place in the discussion of public policies affecting the African American community, so we included it here and hope to support it in 2009.
- The Commission supports the Vancouver NAACP and Washington State University Vancouver funding for the African American Rites Of Passage Program. This program is Southwest Washington's only training program designed to meet the unique cultural needs of African American middle- and high-school Students.
- Community Health Network of Washington has proposed expanding the Basic Health Plan by 20,000 slots, providing health care coverage for all children by 2010, implementing state-funded health care premium subsidies for low-income workers, and launching a “pay or play” plan to curb the shifting of health care costs from large businesses to taxpayers. The Commission supports these proposals in concept and wishes to support them during the upcoming session.
- The Commission on African American Affairs, in partnership with the Office of the Education Ombudsman may receive $100,000 per year for six years under a federal “Gear Up” grant through the University of Washington. The UW selected this project for inclusion in their grant package. If the grant is awarded by the federal government to the UW as hoped, funds to the Commission and Ombudsman will be used to develop/offer a parent leadership training to parents of students in Gear Up programs in selected Highline, Federal Way, Kent, and Tacoma schools. The long-term goal is to gather data about the effect of parent training on student outcomes. The Ombudsman’s Office and the Commission will provide a 25 percent “in-kind” match to the $100,000, primarily by giving office space and minimal staff time to the project. We also are seeking private funds. During this upcoming session, we hope to familiarize policy makers with this project and “tee it up” for possible funding consideration in the 2009 session. Any state funds received in 2009 or later would be used to provide a cash match to the federal funds, so that more parents can complete the training and more detailed analysis of project outcomes can be completed.
Thank you for your consideration and involvement in the process!
Oscar Eason, Jr., Chairman Earl Ford, Vice Chairman