Policy Analysis and Advocacy

Every year a number of policies are proposed that, if adopted, would impact immigrant communities in Washington State. As part of its state and local policy work, OneAmerica tracks policies across the state to gauge their impact on immigrant communities and to organize an appropriate response to ensure that policy makers are informed and educated about the effects of these proposed policies. OneAmerica’s work falls into three primary categories: Policy Analysis, Education and Advocacy.

Policy Analysis: OneAmerica analyzes policies at the state and local level to gauge their impact on immigrants and identify whether the organization should support or oppose the proposed policy changes.

Education: After analyzing the impact of a policy on Washington’s foreign-born residents, OneAmerica disseminates the analysis through policy briefs, testimony at public hearings, its network of member organizations and individuals, and other mediums to educate the public and policy makers about the effect of these proposals on immigrants.

Advocacy: Through coordination with its organizing team, OneAmerica engages in advocacy efforts designed to impact policy discourse and win favorable policies for the immigrant communities of Washington State.

Below are a list of bills and budget items that OneAmerica is currently tracking during the 2011 legislative session:

Budget items:

1)      DSHS’s Naturalization Program.   Serves thousands of legal permanent residents who seek to become US citizens.  This helps qualify them for federally-funded benefits while saving the state money in the process. Although this has been eliminated already and was not restored in the House early action budget, we continue to advocate for its restoration. 

Governor’s Budget: Eliminated on December 1, 2010
House Early Action Budget: Eliminated
Senate Early Action Budget: Eliminated
Final Early Action Budget: $500,000 restored.

2)      Interpreter Services for Non-English Speaking Medicaid Clients.  Provides interpretation assistance in critical health care settings for approximately 70,000 residents in Washington State and is matched nearly 3-to-1 by federal Medicaid funds.  Although a small amount was restored in the House budget through pilot programs testing technology for interpretation, we are urging the Senate to save the program and make it more efficient by eliminating the current brokerage system and contracting directly with certified interpreters or through a single entity.  

Governor’s Budget: Eliminated
House Early Action Budget: Eliminated on March 1, 2011 with $500,000 for two pilot programs testing the effectiveness of technology in providing interpreter services
Senate Early Action Budget: Full funding at $1.7 million for remainder of FY2011.
Final Early Action Budget: Full funding at $1.7 million for remainder of FY2011.

3)      Apple Health for Kids Program.  Provides access to preventative care for all kids in Washington State. The Governor initially proposed eliminating coverage for 27,000 undocumented kids but the House’s version of the early action budget would maintain eligibility. We are pushing for the Senate to join the House and preserve coverage for our kids.   

Governor’s Budget: Eliminated
House Early Action Budget: Preserved
Senate Early Action Budget: Program capped for undocumented kids on March 1, 2011 for new enrollment and elimination of coverage for undocumented kids between 200 and 300% of federal poverty level.
Final Early Action Budget: Program preserved, families with undocumented kids between 200 and 300% of federal poverty level will now have to pay full premiums.

4)      Washington’s State Food Assistance Program.  Provides critical food support to 31,000 individuals in approximately 14,000 very low-income immigrant households. Food stamps produce an economic stimulus greater than any other spending and are needed during an economic crisis that has left more families food-insecure than at any other recent time.

Governor’s Budget: Eliminated
House Early Action Budget: Preserved 50% of funding
Senate Early Action Budget: Preserved 50% of funding
Final Early Action Budget: Preserved 50% of funding.

5)      Limited English Proficient (LEP) Pathways/Refugee Services Program.  Provides crucial employment assistance to refugees throughout Washington State, including ESL, job training, job search workshops and other employment services.

Governor’s Budget: Eliminated
House Early Action Budget: Preserved 50% of state funding
Senate Early Action Budget: Preserved 50% of state funding
Final Early Action Budget: Preserved 50% of state funding

6)      Basic Health Program, which provides access to health care for Washington State residents without access to affordable health coverage, including immigrants. The House extended the date for elimination but placed eligibility restrictions that will prevent many immigrants from accessing the program. 

Governor’s Budget: Eliminated
House Early Action Budget: Eliminated on April 30, 2011 with eligibility restrictions beginning February 28, 2011 for many immigrants
Senate Early Action Budget: Eliminated access for undocumented immigrants on May 1, 2011.
Final Early Action Budget: Basic Health Program eligibility aligned with federal Medicaid waiver, resulting in loss of coverage for 15,000 individuals, including a vast majority who are immigrants of various statuses.

7) The Washington New Americans Citizenship Program in the Department of Commerce. Since 2009, the New Americans program has helped more than 2,000 legal permanent residents complete their naturalization applications through direct services and free legal clinics offered across the state, while matching state funding dollar-for-dollar through in-kind and private funding sources.

Governor’s Budget: 5% reduction for remainder of FY2011.
House Early Action Budget: 5% reduction for remainder of FY2011.
Senate Early Action Budget: 5% reduction for remainder of FY2011.
Final Early Action Budget: 5% reduction for remainder of FY2011.

Legislation:

OneAmerica Supports:

1) SB5168 (Prentice) / Reducing maximum sentences for gross misdemeanors by one day.

Status: Passed Senate; Rules Committee in the House

Fact Sheet on SB5168

OneAmerica Testimony in support of SB5168

Analysis: Bill would reduce the maximum sentence for gross misdemeanor convictions, restoring equity in sentencing for non-citizen defendants who are currently subject to automatice deportation for convictions of 365 days or more, regardless of the crime committed and time served.

2) SB5023 (Prentice) / HB1146 (Kenney) / Addressing nonlegal immigration-related services.

Status: Passed Senate; had public hearing in House Committee on Judiciary

OneAmerica Testimony in support of SB5023 (with amendments)

Analysis: Bill would remove "immigration assistants" designation by the state, a designation that provides legitimacy to some "notarios" who take advantage of unsuspecting immigrant clients and abuse the system. Clarifies who is able to provide immigration services in the state of Washington.

3) SB5297 (Nelson) and HB1668 (Reykdal) / Concerning signature gathering.

Status (SB5297): Bill died in the Senate.

Status (HB1668): Bill died in the House.

Fact sheet on SB5297/HB1668

Analysis: Bill would improve the initiative process by bringing more accountability and transparency. Washington State's initiative process was recently given an F score by the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center because of outdated laws regulating the initiative process.

OneAmerica Opposes:

1) SB5407 (Haugen) and HB1577 (Armstrong) / Driver's license restrictions for immigrants

Status (SB5407): Bill failed on procedural motion in the Senate.

Status: HB1577): Bill has died in the House.

Fact sheet on SB5407/HB1577

Safety First Coalition Sign-on Letter

OneAmerica Testimony on SB5407 (before substitute bill)

OneAmerica Testimony on HB1577

OneAmerica Oral Testimony from Members at public hearing on HB1577

Analysis: Bills would restrict access to driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants and potentially other immigrants, resulting in a new pool of inlicensed and uninsured drivers who will undermine public safety and make our roads less safe.

2) HB1126 (Hurst) / Concerning criminal street gangs.

Status: Has had public hearing in House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee.

Fact sheet on HB1126

List of organizations opposing HB1126

OneAmerica Testimony in Opposition to HB1126

Analysis: Bill would create a new civic injunction process that would legalize racial profiling and create new ways for youth of color to find their way into the criminal justice system. We believe the system is already enforcement-heavy and we need more prevention and intervention services.

3) HB1272 (Chandler) / Requiring the employment security department to verify that workers referred to employers are authorized to work in the United States.

Status: Bill is dead for the session.

OneAmerica Testimony in Opposition to HB1272

Analysis: Bill would require the Employment Security Department to verify the work authorization of workers before referring them to employers, likely forcing ESD to implement E-verify.

4) SJR8207 (Stevens) / Declaring that English must be the language of all official proceedings.

Status: Bill is dead for the session.

Analysis: Resolution would declare English as the official language of government proceeding, alienating non-English speakers from the policial process and representing the worst of xenophobia.

5) SB5328 (Zarelli) / Requiring verification of eligibility for public assistance.

Status: Bill is dead for the session.

Analysis: Would require that people provide a valid social security number to be eligible for any public assistance, alienating many immigrants and citizens from access to benefits that their tax dollars fund.

6) HB1544 (Hunter) / Restricting the eligibility for the basic health plan to the basic health transition eligibles population under the medicaid waiver.

Status: Necessary as part of budget implementation.

Analysis: Bill would align eligibility for the Basic Health Program with the federal Medicaid wiaver, which has much stricter eligibility. The impact would be the loss of coverage for 15,000 U.S. citizens and immigrants of all statuses.

7) HB1547 (Darneille) and SB5140 (Hargrove) / Concerning the deportation of criminal alien offenders.

Status (HB1547): Passed the House.

Status (SB5140): Passed out of Human Services and Corrections; in Senate Rules Committee.

Joint Statement of Concern from Advocates and Amerndment Recommendation