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HB 3835A Hurts Kids!
A bill that guts critical protections of children and teens is quickly moving through the Oregon Legislature. Disability Rights Oregon is shocked HB 3835A has even seen the light of day. It hurts kids, and we need your help to stop it!
The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) is charged with supporting families and children to keep them safe and healthy. But instead, it’s hoodwinking the public—by trying to pass a bill that limits sexual abuse investigations, weakens laws on seclusion and restraint in schools, and allows the state to house foster youth in homeless shelters.
The truth is DHS is attempting to change the definition of child abuse and drastically limit investigations of abuse and neglect. Our legislative leaders cannot let that happen.
Save Medicaid, Save Lives
US Representatives have already passed a bill that slashes Medicaid in order to offset tax cuts for the rich! If also passed by the Senate, these cuts will devastate over 80 million people — including 17 million older adults and individuals with disabilities, who rely on Medicaid for healthcare and essential home and community-based services.
Medicaid cuts will weaken the service system for people with disabilities, as millions of caregivers and home-based service providers are paid through Medicaid. Family caregivers, many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet, will face greater hardship unless this bill is stopped.
There is no room for compromise—any cuts to Medicaid will cause harm, disproportionately impacting children, older adults, and people with disabilities.
Email or call your Senators today and tell them No Cuts to Medicaid! >
Protect People with Mental Illness
An uninformed proposal to expand Oregon’s civil commitment statute is disappointingly being presented to legislators by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). As a result, people with disabilities are, once again, faced with being wrongfully institutionalized, denied due process, and forcibly separated from loved ones — all while millions of taxpayer dollars are wasted, and people continue to suffer.
Expanding civil commitment will not solve chronic mental illness, homelessness, drug addiction, or Oregon’s behavioral system.
Is Your Child Still Being Denied Full-Day School? We’d Like to Hear from You!
By now, your school district should have informed you of your child’s increased rights to a full day of school under Senate Bill 819 (2023), a new law that ends all Oregon school districts’ rights to insist on a shortened school day when you object. As of July 2023, your school district is required to return your child to a full day of school within five days, if you object to a shortened school day.
As part of Disability Rights Oregon’s continued efforts to end the illegal and harmful use of shortened school days, we are concerned that some districts may be violating this the requirements of SB 819 (2023).
We would like to hear your story if, after telling your district you object, your child has not been returned to a full day of school. We are especially interested in hearing about problems that may be affecting other children in your district. Thank you!
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