Hi John,

Time to end police violence.

This summer, thousands of us took to the streets to protest the persistent police violence against Black and brown communities. The deeply painful murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Manuel Ellis, and many more, followed by months of protest effectively changed the conversation around public safety and policing in cities around the country. But now it’s time for our state to take action!

Lawmakers have introduced several bills this session that strengthen police accountability in Washington state. It is on us to keep up the pressure to pass strong police accountability measures and reallocate funds to upstream investments in public health and safety. As we continue to re-imagine public safety, we must take immediate steps in the direction of a more equitable and safer Washington.  

Email your lawmakers urging them to take a stand and support strong police accountability measures across Washington state and include your own message on why police accountability is important to you.

In solidarity with Washington for Black Lives, Poverty Action supports the following police accountability bills:

• HB 1202: Civil Remedy
• HB 1203: Community Oversight Boards
• HB 1267: Independent Investigation
• HB 1054: Police Tactics
• HB 1082/SB 5051: State Oversight and Accountability
• HB 1092/SB 5259: Data collection on use of force

Racial justice cannot be realized without economic justice.

Let’s just say it outright: institutional and structural racism has created an enormous wealth gap in our state and country. As a result, debt of all kinds disproportionately impacts people of color, which in turn creates an unfair disadvantage when it comes to building and maintaining credit. If we accept those facts, that means that the credit scoring system – one of the many tools used to determine who can build wealth by purchasing things like a home or car – is, at best, biased against people of color.

As if that’s not bad enough, credit scores also affect how much people pay for car, homeowner’s, renter’s, and life insurance premiums. When insurance companies use credit scores for the basis of calculating insurance rates, people of color and people with low incomes end up paying a higher price. That is not only wrong and unfair, but it also has nothing to do with how safe a person is as a driver or how well they take care of their home. We need our state representatives to pass equitable policies that protect communities of color and low-income households from paying more than their share.

Tell your state senator to support SB 5010 without repealing protections for people of color from the discriminatory practice of using credit scores to calculate insurance premiums.