2023 Linn County Democratic Central Committee Platform
Preamble: Our conviction is that the role of government is to achieve together what we cannotdo as individuals. We strive for all humans to live in healthy communities with equity, equality,
safety, and opportunities. We value compassion and empathy.
1. Democracy, Election Integrity and Human Rights
Preamble: Democracy and equality for all are the necessary foundation for a thriving society.
We hold that the right to vote is fundamental to our democracy. No law, regulation, or
administrative action should limit the ability of all adult citizens to exercise the right to vote and
to have those votes accurately counted.
Preamble: All Oregonians, urban, suburban, and rural, hold an interest in protecting our
environment. Climate change is an accelerating existential threat to humanity and all living
things. We must continue to lead the way toward effective solutions to problems arising from
industrial society, including resource extraction and pollution; and the disparate impact on our
forests, family farms, the poor, people of color, and Indigenous people. We support a green
new deal with government action that prioritizes full de-carbonization of our economy, creating
millions of well-paying union jobs, investments in green infrastructure and industry, while
securing clean air and water, community resilience, healthy food, and access to nature.
3. Healthcare
Preamble: Universal, high-quality, easily-accessible healthcare is a right. Reproductive care,
including the full-range of family planning services, abortion care, and gender-affirming care
must be included in basic healthcare.
4. Housing and Land Use
Preamble: Housing is a human right, and lack of affordable housing is an emergency. Addressing
the housing crisis requires an immediate increase in available housing and keeping low-income
renters from becoming unhoused. At the same time, we must ensure that land use and growth
is done in a way that meets our climate objectives.
5. Economy, Fiscal Policy and Social Safety Net
Preamble: We recognize that a legacy of exclusion and discrimination has created economic
disparities, for communities of color, Indigenous communities, women, the LGBTQ+
community, individuals with disabilities, immigrants and working families. Disparities which will
continue to grow without intentional efforts to overcome them. We are entitled to a
government that invests in a strong safety net to provide equitable and compassionate services
to those who are most vulnerable. The success of our economy should not be measured by the
performance of the markets, but in the health and prosperity of those in our communities.
6. Labor and Work
Preamble: Working people are the foundation of our economy and deserve a living wage,
equal pay for equal work, and the right to organize free from intimidation and coercion.
7. Safety and Justice
Preamble: Everyone is entitled to a life free from abuse, neglect, violence, coercion, police
harassment and state-sanctioned violence. Everyone must have access to an unbiased and fair
justice system without regard to economic status or identity.
8. Foreign Policy and Immigration
Preamble: The cost of war is terrible. We can decrease the inevitability of armed conflict by
investing in preventive strategies including: economic security, democracy, climate friendly
policies, coalition building, and skilled diplomacy.
9. Education, Media, Technology and Speech
Preamble: We believe that an educated, informed citizenry is essential for democracy
and for our economy to thrive. Every person has a basic right to high-quality public education
beyond high school.
2023 Legislative Action Items
Priority LAIs for our Federal Legislators
Priority LAIs for the State of Oregon
safety, and opportunities. We value compassion and empathy.
1. Democracy, Election Integrity and Human Rights
Preamble: Democracy and equality for all are the necessary foundation for a thriving society.
We hold that the right to vote is fundamental to our democracy. No law, regulation, or
administrative action should limit the ability of all adult citizens to exercise the right to vote and
to have those votes accurately counted.
- We must strive to make voting easier for all. No one should be denied the right to vote due to a lack of accessible and convenient polling places, times, and methods, including vote-by-mail.
- Money is not speech and corporations are not persons.
- We believe in the separation of government and religion.
- Bodily autonomy is a human right. No one has the right to control another person’s body.
- Bullying and intimidation must not be allowed to interfere or influence the election processes.
- We must address the evolving danger of the Fascist movement in our country.
- We expect our public officials to make themselves personally and regularly available,
- accessible, and accountable to their constituents at public, in-person meetings.
- Public records should be made available without charge and within a timely manner.
- We believe in the right to peacefully protest without intimidation, harassment, or over-policing.
- Citizens in every part of the United States and its voting territories have the right to proper and full representation in Congress.
- We believe redistricting should be done fairly, equitably, and equally to balance population changes within districts and not used as a tool for disenfranchisement.
Preamble: All Oregonians, urban, suburban, and rural, hold an interest in protecting our
environment. Climate change is an accelerating existential threat to humanity and all living
things. We must continue to lead the way toward effective solutions to problems arising from
industrial society, including resource extraction and pollution; and the disparate impact on our
forests, family farms, the poor, people of color, and Indigenous people. We support a green
new deal with government action that prioritizes full de-carbonization of our economy, creating
millions of well-paying union jobs, investments in green infrastructure and industry, while
securing clean air and water, community resilience, healthy food, and access to nature.
- We trust and will use science-based evidence and facts to develop policy and law.
- All people have the right to a healthy environment: clean air and water, well-managed sewage treatment, recycling, and solid waste disposal, accessible open and recreational space, functional habitats and ecosystem relationships, and sustainable watersheds.
- We support the protection of air, scenic, soil, and water resources. We believe in the sustainable management of Oregon’s renewable agricultural, water, forest, range, wildlife, and fisheries resources.
- Climate change is principally caused by human activities. Robust action to reduce the production and release of carbon dioxide is urgently needed to avoid catastrophic changes. Carbon sequestration will be important in long term solutions.
- We oppose converting public lands to private ownership and support protecting and expanding federal, state, and local parks, wilderness areas, recreation areas, beaches, and other public resource lands.
- We support community-based land use and transportation planning within a framework of statewide environmental and beneficial use protection standards that prioritizes climate and equity goals and addresses current and historic discrimination. Public and alternative transportation must be prioritized to meet these criteria.
- We support the “polluter pays” principle, with more stringent penalties for major polluters, making pollution unacceptably expensive for industries, and not just a cost of doing business.
- We believe in advancing transportation and energy technologies that do not rely on fossil fuels.
- We support broad efforts to reduce human waste through societal improvement of refuse and broad deployment of recycling technologies. We believe in full accounting of life cycle costs.
- We support strong energy efficiency and solar access standards in residential, commercial, and
- industrial buildings; we support incentives to reduce energy usage in existing structures.
3. Healthcare
Preamble: Universal, high-quality, easily-accessible healthcare is a right. Reproductive care,
including the full-range of family planning services, abortion care, and gender-affirming care
must be included in basic healthcare.
- Medicare must not be privatized.
- Healthcare must include general, preventative, and emergency care and medication, including vision, dental, hearing, and mental health services in addition to reproductive and gender-affirming care
- Treatment should be determined by doctors with the best interests of the patients’ wellbeing, and not by profit or other motives and without spousal or parental interference.
- Patients have the freedom to select alternative modalities of care.
4. Housing and Land Use
Preamble: Housing is a human right, and lack of affordable housing is an emergency. Addressing
the housing crisis requires an immediate increase in available housing and keeping low-income
renters from becoming unhoused. At the same time, we must ensure that land use and growth
is done in a way that meets our climate objectives.
- Federal, State and Local government agencies must work to ensure that all are housed through facilitating the development of permanent, supportive, affordable housing, and mitigation of rent increases.
- We must encourage and incentivize the use of materials in constriction that allow us to meet our climate goals.
- Corporations with large residential portfolios should have a percentage designated affordable.
- Tax subsidies and incentives must only be granted to corporations that meet climate and housing objectives.
- We encourage higher-density, walkable community planning.
5. Economy, Fiscal Policy and Social Safety Net
Preamble: We recognize that a legacy of exclusion and discrimination has created economic
disparities, for communities of color, Indigenous communities, women, the LGBTQ+
community, individuals with disabilities, immigrants and working families. Disparities which will
continue to grow without intentional efforts to overcome them. We are entitled to a
government that invests in a strong safety net to provide equitable and compassionate services
to those who are most vulnerable. The success of our economy should not be measured by the
performance of the markets, but in the health and prosperity of those in our communities.
- Social Security must be protected.
- Tax loopholes that allow profitable corporations to avoid paying their fair share of taxes must be eliminated.
- Essential Government Services — like Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, and Paid Family Leave — must be accessible, efficient, and timely. Agencies must have the resources they need to provide a necessary level of service for those in need.
- Those who serve our country honorably should receive high quality and timely assistance to address and rectify physical, mental, and socioeconomic hardships incurred due to their service.
- Consumer protections must include the right to safe products, the right to repair,
- protection from non-transparent / junk fees and surprise billing, and the right to privacy
- for our data and financial information.
- Benefits provided though our social safety net must be tied to the cost of living and raised proportionately as the cost-of-living increases.
- Our economy must no longer be dominated by Corporate Monopolies that put profits over people and use their market power to engage in anticompetitive behavior.
- Public banks should be made universally available to all, allowing us to save and access our money without being subject to discriminatory practices.
- There must be accountability beyond fines for corporations which break the law, including for those who run them.
6. Labor and Work
Preamble: Working people are the foundation of our economy and deserve a living wage,
equal pay for equal work, and the right to organize free from intimidation and coercion.
- The minimum wage should be a living wage tied to the cost of living and raised proportionately as the cost of living goes up.
- Workers should not to be required to sign nondisclosure or non-compete agreements as a condition of employment.
- Until living wages are mandated for all employees, the government should not subsidize corporations by compensating for their low wages in the form of government assistance to their low-paid employees. Such corporations shall be ineligible for government subsidies such as tax credits, incentives, grants, and loans.
- Access to safe, affordable child care is essential to working families.
- Both employers and employees benefit from universal healthcare.
- Workers have the right to organize free from intimidation and coercion, and have the right to enforcement of good-faith contract negotiations.
7. Safety and Justice
Preamble: Everyone is entitled to a life free from abuse, neglect, violence, coercion, police
harassment and state-sanctioned violence. Everyone must have access to an unbiased and fair
justice system without regard to economic status or identity.
- Lawmakers and government officials must be held accountable to the same laws and ethical standards that the rest of us are.
- Courts, especially the Supreme court. must abide by a code of ethics.
- White-collar crimes are under-charged, are not penalized enough to deter those crimes, and the fines are regarded as a cost of doing business. We believe penalties must be substantial enough to deter those crimes and jail time should be included.
- Gun violence is an epidemic. We, along with the majority of Americans, support common sense actions to reduce gun violence.
8. Foreign Policy and Immigration
Preamble: The cost of war is terrible. We can decrease the inevitability of armed conflict by
investing in preventive strategies including: economic security, democracy, climate friendly
policies, coalition building, and skilled diplomacy.
- We believe that shifting the balance of investment from armed defense/aggression to democracy-building strategies in developing countries can lead to a more peaceful world.
- We support our defensive treaties with allies such as NATO, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, including the defense of Ukraine against Russian aggression.
- Private contractors and other mercenary combatants should not be used in warfare.
- Those seeking asylum in the US should always have their claim considered, be represented by an attorney, and be granted safe entry to the U.S. while their case is in process as mandated by international law.
- We recognize the enormous economic, cultural, and other contributions made by immigrants living in our community, and support the creation of pathways to their legal residency and citizenship without which our communities cannot achieve our full potential.
9. Education, Media, Technology and Speech
Preamble: We believe that an educated, informed citizenry is essential for democracy
and for our economy to thrive. Every person has a basic right to high-quality public education
beyond high school.
- We know that education does not stop at graduation, but should continue through robust access to continuing education, libraries, media, and the internet.
- Public funds must not be used to fund private schools.
- Teachers must be well educated, well prepared, and well trained for their important role in our society. Teachers must be treated with respect and compensated accordingly. Schools should not expect teachers to provide classroom supplies.
- State curricula must include the truth about the historic and current treatment of Black people, indigenous people, other people of color, immigrants, the LGBTQIA+ community, women, the poor, other marginalized people, the Japanese internment, and the labor
- movement. Civics and Current Events should be included in the required curriculum for graduation from high school.
- Any books, art, or course materials that have been banned must be made available and accessible to students whose parents or guardians have given their permission.
- Every person should have access to affordable high-speed internet.
- The corporate consolidation of media has harmed our democracy, and it must be addressed through regulation.
- Access to free higher education should not be limited to those who have served our country.
- All public-school buildings should be kept in good repair and enlarged as needed to accommodate student populations and changing education needs.
2023 Legislative Action Items
Priority LAIs for our Federal Legislators
- Pass S. 51 Statehood for Washington, DC.
- Pass H.J.Res.48 to Amend the Constitution to read “The rights enumerated on this
- document are the rights of natural human persons only.”
- Introduce and pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
- Pass HR Res. 269 the Transgender Bill of Rights.
- Defeat HR 5 the “Parents Bill of Rights Act.”
- Stop the REACH program which wastes Medicare fund, denies patients needed care and enrolls traditional Medicare enrollees into private insurance plans without their full understanding or consent.
- Pass S. 701 the Women’s Health Protection Act.
- Introduce and Pass the Medicare for All Act.
- Repeal the George Bush and Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and reinstitute the inheritance tax.
- Get rid of the Social Security and Medicare tax caps for income over $137,000.
- Pass the Billionaire Minimum Income Tax Act.
- Increase government agencies citizen-assistance interfaces (customer service) speed and efficiency by increasing their budgets, enabling them to hire more staff and update their computer systems.
- Pass S. 817/HR 16-2 the Secure Viable Banking Act introduced by Elizabeth Warren and Katie Porter to restore banking regulations Trump dropped.
- Pass HR20 the PRO Act (Protecting the Right to Organize.)
- Congress should enact the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act (SCERT) requiring the supreme Court to conform to the federal courts code of ethics.
- Pass HR 698 Assault Weapons Ban.
- Increase funding for public defenders.
- Pass a law banning the sale of magazines holding more than ten bullets.
- Pass the People Over Pentagon Act (Reallocates $100 billion from the defense budget to human needs programs.)
- Pass the Renewing Immigration Act of 1929 moving the cut-off date in the Federal Registry from 1972 to a current date, thus opening a path to residency and citizenship including those in DACA.
Priority LAIs for the State of Oregon
- Withdraw SB 3455 Oregon voters overwhelmingly voted to amend the Oregon constitution to allow campaign finance reform. Pass comprehensive campaign finance reform by a ballot measure if the legislature does not and SB 3455 does not.
- Oppose HB 2772 that creates a domestic terrorism label for protesting.
- Pass SB530 the Natural Climate Solutions Bill to use federal dollars to promote carbon sequestration from the atmosphere, through the use of: our soils, agriculture, and forests.
- Pass SB85 to stop the proliferation of CAFOS (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) until the legislature and state agencies can regulate them to protect our family farmers, air, soil, and water and mandate humane treatment of the animals.
- Pass HB 2990 to direct Department of Human Services to provide grants, support and technical assistance for resilience hubs and networks in Oregon.
- Pass State HB 2002 Reproductive Health and Access to Care.
- Pass HB2651 and HB2977 to expand behavioral health provider workforce.
- Pass SB 704 A to establish the Universal Health Plan Governance Board and direct board to create comprehensive plan for implementing Universal Health Plan.
- Pass the bill package; SB868 Healthy Heating and Cooling for All – Supports rapid deployment of heat pumps and weatherization and aligns energy efficient programs with state climate goals. SB869 Build Smart from the Start – Improves building codes for new construction to meet climate standards. SB870 Building Performance Standards (for commercial construction and retrofits.) SB871 Smart State Buildings (will allow state to lead by example in retrofitting and new building construction.)
- Require communities' extensions of residential zones or commercial and industrial zones to include a percentage of affordable housing commensurate to the need in that locality.
- Pass SB 611 Increases amount residential landlords owe tenants for landlord caused termination of tenancy. Limits annual rent increases. Declares emergency on passage.
- Increase government agencies citizen-assistance interfaces (customer service) speed and efficiency by increasing their budgets, enabling them to hire more staff and update their computer systems.
- Pass SB 610 to establish Food for All Oregonians Program within Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program SNAP for residents who would qualify for federal SNAP benefits but for immigration status.
- Pass SB 5515 to appropriate money from general fund to Bureau of Labor and Industries for Enforcement and mediation.
- Establish a Commission to evaluate to evaluate the wage level necessary for people to live on without resort to social services.
- Pass HB 2005-2007 and HB 3060 Gun Safety Package.
- Pass SB413, SB 817, B 2467 In Defense of Humanity Package for public defenders.
- Pass a law banning the sale of magazines with more than ten bullets.
- Set up a fund to compensate attorneys who represent asylum seekers.
- Increase teacher annual pay to be the equivalent to the pay earned by other employees in the government or private sector fields with equivalent degrees. Prohibit private schools from receiving public money in any form including vouchers.