Immigrants Issue Chair Lydia Zepeda

This Washington State legislative session that ended March 12 was the first since the LWVWA adopted its positions on Welcoming Immigrants. The positions allowed the LWVWA to add an immigrants issue chair to its Lobby team: Lydia Zepeda, a co-author of the Welcoming Immigrants study.

Zepeda testified in support of legislation affecting immigrants in Washington State. Six bills that the League endorsed, along with other immigrant rights organizations, passed both chambers of the Legislature. They are on the governor’s desk or have already been signed into law. The successful bills are:

• HB 1903 would establish a statewide low-income energy assistance program. There would be no risk to eligibility based on immigration status. The bill calls for multilingual outreach and coordination with community organizations to inform the public.
  
  
• HB 2105 would require employers to notify employees of planned inspections or audits by U.S. Immigration and Customs. The substitute bill would provide more details on dates, narrows the scope somewhat, and outlines AG responsibilities. 
  
  
• HB 2632 would amend the state legal code to remove offensive language, replacing “oriental” with “Asian” to designate a person of Asian descent; and replacing “alien” with “noncitizen.” 
  
  
• SB 5855 would ban the wearing of face masks by local, state and federal law enforcement, and require all law enforcement officers to have identification while conducting operations in the state. It establishes a civil cause of action for people who are detained by law enforcement officers violating the prohibition on facial coverings. 
  
  SB 2355 would ensure that domestic workers, most of whom are immigrant women of color, have the basic rights and protections available to most other workers. These include a minimum wage, a written contract in a language they understand, and privacy and anti-retaliation guarantees. The substitute bill narrowed the definition of babysitter and removed political speech from rights protected by anti-retaliation provisions. 
  
  
• SB 6002 would limit how automated license plate reader (ALPR) data can be used and shared by police agencies. It creates consistent statewide standards for ALPRs. An important change in the substitute bill is that the 72-hour data retention limit was increased to 21 days.

Many worthy bills did not make it through the legislative session, mostly due to budgetary issues. However, our position has been instrumental to advocate for legislation that protects the rights of immigrants. Concurrence with the LWVWA position—that is, making our position a national League position—will enable many Leagues to advocate and lobby for similar protection of immigrants in their communities.

The LWVWA has created a website to further explain the study, the LWVWA position, and the process toward national adoption. The 57th biennial LWVUS Convention will be June 25-28 in Columbus, Ohio.