The Smart Justice Spokane Quarterly meeting was a great turnout with lots of attendees that were anxious to hear updates about the coalition’s next steps. The first item that was announced was the launch of their new website: smartjusticespokane.org. The website is filled with lots of great information on their vision, accomplishments, projects, events, resources, and most importantly how to get involved with the coalition!
The next item that was discussed was the legislative updates to let the attendees know what bills to support to advance the Smart Justice Spokane goals. Those bills are The Fair Chance Act, The Certificate of Restoration of Opportunity Act, Legal Financial Obligation Reform, and Use of Deadly Force Bill. We need to let our senators know that they need to support these bills and to educate them about the ways the current criminal justice operates to reduce opportunities for those in the criminal justice system long after they’ve done their time. This is our time to speak on behalf for those that have been silenced! One bill that we need to say no to is the Police Body Cameras bill because the bill does not go far enough to protect privacy rights for our citizens and this is a violation of our rights. Please contact Senators Padden and Baumgartner and let them know what we want!