Please act today!

Your legislator needs to hear from you today. 

You've heard about the 2009 Safety and Savings Act. This legislation was passed last June and is keeping Oregon safer while saving money.

The February legislative session started on Monday, and we are fighting hard to protect the 2009 Safety and Savings Act.

Last year the legislature was facing a projected $4 billion deficit and the Safety and Savings Act (HB 3508) was designed to protect cuts to critical public safety agencies and programs. The law created roughly $50 million in savings from the reduced need for prison beds and then re-invested that money to keep state police on the job, protect addiction treatment, and strengthen domestic and sexual violence services. This was much smarter approach to public safety than building a new prison.

We need you, our partners in activism, to act now because Kevin Mannix and his buddies are attacking the Safety and Savings Act.

Mannix is taking aim at the part of the Safety and Savings Act that created a modest 10% increase in earned-time for about a third of the prison population. This 10% increase amounts to an average early release of about 50 days and is subject to the review and objection of prosecutors, victims, and judges.

Earned-time is a policy that allows some reduction in criminal sentences when inmates are working hard to transform themselves by participating in rehabilitation programs and behaving well. Significant studies of earned-time from around the country show the policy is a smart corrections management tool, saves money, promotes rehabilitation, and can reduce future crime.

It is policies like this that are required to make Oregon’s approach to public safety smarter and more balanced. Oregon is one of a handful of states that spends more money on corrections than higher education and community colleges, and that is nothing to brag about.

We need to deliver the message: Mend it, don’t end it. The Senate Judiciary Committee has introduced a bill (SB 1007) which tightens up and improves the earned-time policy. We want to support that effort to amend the earned-time increase policy without repealing it.

Below, you’ll see a link to a message to your legislators. Please email your legislators today and tell them to support the 2009 Safety and Savings Act by supporting Senate Bill 1007.

Contact your legislator TODAY! by sending them an email to amend, not end, the Oregon's Safety and Savings Act.