Oppose State Bias-Crimes Bill (HB 1071)

Official Daily Action for Friday, Feb 12, 2021

First, join us for a town hall with Rep. Jayapal on Monday at noon!

Oppose HB 1071 Concerning bias-based criminal offenses

HB 1071 Concerning bias-based criminal offenses will be discussed on the State House floor today. Please join Seattle Indivisible in opposing HB 1071 and calling for this bill to be defeated

This action is modified from Oppose HB 1071 https://docs.google.com/document/d/11uL6j6vpeU-DBYb5-uTcXx6sD6IwXjwzhldwlGZKQbE/edit?usp=sharing

Many people are rightfully concerned about the rise of hate-based violence in Washington State. But a current bill pending before the Washington State legislature, HB 1071, would take a harmful and misguided approach to address this problem.

HB 1071 would build up the state’s capacity to cage and punish by lengthening prison sentences. It would allow a judge to impose “an aggravated exceptional sentence” (up to the statutory maximum) if any felony is found to be motivated by bias. The bill would also add the existing Hate Crimes Offense to the list of Crimes Against Persons. This would make people sentenced for this offense subject to 12 months of “community custody” – i.e. probation – at the end of their prison sentence.

Hate crime bills like this one do not have any deterrent effects – they do not prevent violence against marginalized groups, because they only punish people after the fact, and they are not shown to deter future violence. The passage of this bill will continue to add to the arsenal of prosecutors and build out the prison system in our state, effects that inevitably end up disproportionately impacting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. Hate crime laws frame the police and prosecutors as protectors of marginalized communities, which obscures that police violence and criminalization are one of the most significant sources of violence to many marginalized communities. Particularly at a time when people are dying of COVID-19 in WA prisons at unconscionable rates, any move to lengthen sentences is unacceptable.

ACTION 1: Comment “OPPOSE” to HB 1071

Go to: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/1071
Fill in your contact information
Choose “oppose” from the position buttons
Fill in your comment, based on the script below

ACTION 2: Email the bill’s sponsors

Copy these addresses into the “To” line of your email:

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

AND YOUR REP

Find your rep at https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/ and add their email address to the “To” line of your email

Subject: No on 1071

SCRIPT:

I am writing to ask you to vote NO on HB 1071, the bill “Concerning Bias-based criminal offenses.” I am concerned about the rise of hate-based violence, but I do not believe that giving more power to prosecutors, sending people to prison for longer sentences, or having people under DOC control for a year past their sentence will make our communities safer. This bill will not deter future hate crimes, because it only addresses the harm that has happened after the fact. If we want to stop hate crimes, we need to go further upstream.

This past year forced a reckoning with police violence across the country. Police, prosecutors, and prisons create harm for the very communities that “hate crimes” legislation is meant to protect. Please don’t be part of expanding our punishment system. This is the wrong solution. Vote no on HB 1071.

[NAME], [CITY], [ZIP]