Update as of 3/3/22: SB 1510 has passed! Thank your legislators for their support of this crucial reform đây. 

Many of CCC’s clients, residents and patients have had some level of engagement with the criminal and legal systems due to the long history of criminalizing substance use disorder and poverty. Some people come to our services as a direct referral for reentry or diversion services, but they stay with CCC because they want to change their lives.  

Unfortunately, the criminal and legal systems frequently present barriers to long-term stability.  

In partnership with the Transforming Justice Coalition, CCC is supporting SB 1510, the Transforming Justice bill, which transitions our system to one focused on successful reentry versus punishment. SB 1510 would create: 

Safety for communities of color across Oregon 

• Require officers to notify a person of their right to decline a search and get written or recorded consent before conducting a search. 
• Reduce when public safety stops are permitted by making a broken headlight, taillight, brake light, or license plate light a “secondary offense,” meaning an officer can issue a citation only if a driver is pulled over for something else. 

Opportunities for success  

• Require community corrections to create rules, in consultation with people on or formerly on supervision, that promote the success of people on supervision. The rules would improve employment and housing stability for Oregonians by: 

• Preventing unnecessary workplace visits by parole and probation officers. 

• Enabling some people on parole and probation to report remotely. 

• Require culturally specific and trauma-informed training for probation and parole officers. 
• Follow state (not federal) drug laws to be consistent with state cannabis laws. 

More chances for people of color to rebuild their lives 

• Create the Justice Reinvestment Equity Program with $10M to fund investments in culturally specific services promoting racial equity, addressing racial disparities prevalent in Oregon’s criminal justice system, and reducing prison use. 

• Use a local nonprofit foundation with existing ties to communities of color and the proven ability to provide robust programmatic and technical experience to grantees. 
• At the Criminal Justice Committee’s request, extends the 2023 sunset to the Justice Reinvestment Equity Program for one year. 

Participants of CCC’s Flip the Script program, which serves Black clients recently released from prison, recently testified in support of SB 1510 with the Transforming Justice Coalition. As Flip the Script Advocacy Coordinator BIlly Anfield says, “Who knows better than those who have been disproportionately affected by systems created to harm them?” 

Bear, one of the participants who testified, says “Before joining this coalition, I had my reservations about the law and the system…I haven’t ever seen the system work for people of my color…but it just seems to me that a good thing is happening. I can’t specify whether [testifying in support of SB 1510] really made a difference. But at least I was able to share my opinion. If it didn’t make a difference for anyone else, it made a really big difference in my life.”