Social Policy
LWVOR Social Policy Positions
This is one of the three main sections of LWVOR’s advocacy positions. Also see LWVOR Positions: Issues For Action 2012 – 2013 for position and implementation history on each of the following positions.
For information on the positions of the League of Women Voters of the United States, visit the online edition of Impact on Issues.
- Adult Corrections
- Child Care
- Children At Risk
- Education Postsecondary
- Farmworker Issues
- Gun Control
- Adult Mental Health
- Mental Health Services for Children and Youth
- Physical Health Care
- Homeless Youth
- Housing
- Juvenile Justice
- Women’s Issues
Adopted August 1983
The League of Women Voters of Oregon believes that a full range of correctional programs should exist for adult offenders.
A. The League strongly favors increased use of alternatives to incarceration where possible.
1. The League supports alternatives at all stages of the criminal justice process, including but not limited to:
a. pre-trial diversions,
b. employment and educational programs,
c. restitution,
d. treatment centers for mental illness and substance abuse.
2. The League strongly supports community-based programs such as those offered through the Community Corrections Act, especially those which allow inmates to be partially or wholly self supporting.
B. If more facilities are needed, the League favors:
1. Minimum security regional treatment and/or program focused facilities.
2. Adequate staffing and program must be part of any facility within the corrections system. Prison programs should provide each inmate with:
a. educational and vocational training,
b. opportunities for meaningful work, and
c. adequate medical and mental health care.
3. Maximum security prisons are needed for violent criminals judged dangerous to society.
C. The League believes that comprehensive transitional programs are essential for successful completion of rehabilitation for each inmate released or paroled from a correctional facility.
D. The League supports the adoption of sentencing guidelines that set parameters for judges throughout the state in order to reduce disparity in sentencing.
1. Judges should be responsible for determining the length of sentences.
2. The League supports continuation of the Parole Board.
Adopted March 1989
The League of Women Voters of Oregon believes that child care is a social and economic issue that reaches beyond the family into the community. Quality child care needs to be available, accessible and affordable to all families for children of all ages and with differing needs.
A. The League of Women Voters supports a diverse child care system to accommodate different parental choices and needs. Such a system may include day care centers, group homes, and family day care homes.
1. The State of Oregon should establish appropriate standards to ensure that high quality care exists in all settings. For centers and group homes: these standards should address facilities, staff qualifications, and number of children served. Program, parent/care giver communication, administration and transportation should be included for centers and may also be considered for group homes. There should be flexible guidelines for family day care homes because of the unique character of these facilities.
2. The State of Oregon should enforce mandatory regulations by funding a sufficient number of inspectors.
3. The State of Oregon should set requirements for adequate training for care givers and ensure those training opportunities are available. This could include state provision of training and/or state incentives for others to provide training.
4. City and county governments should participate in enforcing health and fire standards.
B. Affordable child care should be available and accessible for children with differing needs and in various age groups.
1. While parents have the primary responsibility for choosing child care, a coordinated effort between parents and government, together with providers, employers, and private groups is necessary to deliver quality child care at an affordable price.
2. The State of Oregon should:
a. Provide financial assistance for child care expenses to low- and middle-income families based on need. Such assistance could include tax credits for parents with a ceiling based on income.
b. Support resource and referral programs.
c. Encourage employer involvement in the child care system.
d. Encourage development of school-age child care programs.
3. Parents in job training, in school, with special-needs children and/or needing respite care services should be eligible for financial assistance for child care based on demonstrated need.
C. Child care givers should be awarded recognition commensurate with their responsibilities. The State of Oregon should take a leadership role in elevating the professional status of child care givers and ensuring adequate compensation.
National Position (adopted in 1988): “Support programs, services and policies at all levels of government to expand the supply of affordable, quality child care for all who need it, in order to increase access to employment and to prevent and reduce poverty. ”
Adopted January 1995
A. The League of Women Voters of Oregon supports comprehensive statewide, locally based programs and services for teen pregnancy prevention and for teenage parents. Such programs and services should include elements of the following:
1. family planning services,
2. school-based health centers,
3. parenting skills’ education,
4. cooperation/coordination among agencies providing services,
5. evaluation and accountability measurements,
6. easy and appropriate access to information and services,
7. mentoring and counseling for teenagers and their parents, including peer counseling,
8. community involvement and support groups,
9. abuse prevention,
10. male responsibility in teen pregnancy prevention,
11. broad public education, and
12. substance abuse prevention.
B. The League of Women Voters of Oregon believes the state should have the primary responsibility for funding programs addressing teenage pregnancy prevention and teen parenting. Elements to be included, but not limited to, are:
1. equitable funding of programs for young women and young men,
2. adequate funding for state agencies with responsibilities to children,
3. cooperative efforts with the private sector,
4. funds earmarked for community programs, urban and rural, which provide after school and weekend activities for teens, and
5. shared funding responsibility, when appropriate, among state, local and private sources.
C. The League of Women Voters of Oregon supports development of required curriculums for all school districts relative to teen pregnancy and parenting, accompanied by implementation requirements, which covers, but is not limited to, the following areas:
1. comprehensive, age-appropriate family life sexuality education K-12,
2. parenting skills education,
3. specialized education programs for pregnant teens and teenage parents, and
4. teacher training at the baccalaureate level and as continuing education.
D. The League of Women Voters of Oregon supports programs directed to assist pregnant teens and teen parents. These programs include the following:
1. job training and adequate wages,
2. involvement and financial support requirements for fathers,
3. counseling to break the cycles of abuse, poverty, and teen pregnancy,
4. health care, including prenatal care,
5. accessible, affordable housing,
6. child care,
7. transportation access,
8. completion of secondary education, and
9. self-esteem enhancement, career opportunities, and transition to self-sufficiency.
National Position, adopted 1994: The League of Women Voters of the United States believes that early intervention and prevention measures are effective in helping children reach their full potential. The League supports policies and programs at all levels of the community and government that promote the well being, encourage the full development and ensure the safety of all children. These include:
. child abuse/neglect prevention;
. teen pregnancy prevention;
. quality health care, including nutrition and prenatal care;
. early childhood education;
. developmental services, emphasizing children ages 0-3;
. family support services;
. violence prevention.
Education – Public Postsecondary Education
Adopted January 1985
The League of Women Voters of Oregon believes the primary goal of Oregon’s public postsecondary education should be to provide a broad spectrum of higher education for professional, vocational, and personal enrichment to all qualified and motivated individuals.
Oregon State System of Higher Education (OSSHE)
A. For the most effective use of state educational resources, OSSHE institutions should cooperate and coordinate programs resulting in:
1. Consistent statewide standards.
2. Easy transfer of credit between schools.
B. If state funding for OSSHE institutions necessitates limiting access, such limitation should be:
1. Academic, e.g. entrance requirements.
2. Financial limitation is the least desirable.
C. Oregon needs a strong, high-quality system of higher education.
1. State funding must reflect this need, and high priority should be given to providing sufficient funds to improve the general excellence of the state system.
2. In order to attract and retain quality faculty, salaries and research opportunities should be appropriately competitive.
3. Adequate funding should also be provided to ensure complete, up-to-date libraries and to maintain or upgrade the physical plants at all of our colleges and universities.
4. It is imperative that in our institutions we have good fiscal management accountability for the funding provided.
D. League members feel that the roles and interrelationships of the present regional colleges, specialized institutions, and research universities are properly balanced.
1. Oregon State University and the University of Oregon should remain comprehensive research universities.
2. Portland State University should be allowed to expand gradually.
Community Colleges
A. The primary role of community colleges should be in the areas of:
1. Vocational-technical training;
2. Developmental education (e.g. high school equivalency, English as a second language);
3. Lower division college courses.
4. Community adult education (hobby and recreation courses) should have a secondary role and must be self-supporting as defined by statute.
B. Community colleges should maintain an open door policy. If funding necessitates limiting access:
1. Such limitation should be geographic, i.e. higher tuition for out-of-district students;
2. Academic or financial limitations are the least desirable.
C. State funding for community colleges should be according to the formulas set by the 1961 legislation. Local control must be maintained because it affords the community colleges the necessary flexibility to respond to local needs.
Boards And Commissions
A. Cooperation and coordination should be emphasized by all Oregon public postsecondary education institutions and governing boards.
B. The current boards dealing with education, the Board of Education, and the Board of Higher Education need no structural change. The League does not favor the creation of a new education governing body.
Adopted January 2001
The League of Women Voters of Oregon believes all citizens benefit from the agricultural bounty produced by Oregon’s farmers and farmworkers, and that the state has a role in supporting the sound and fair relationship between farmers and the agricultural workforce, with the goal of economic and social justice for both parties. LWVOR believes the state must work for the humane and respectful treatment of workers as well as the viability of Oregon farms.
Currently laws that regulate the working environment for agricultural workers are different from laws regulating the working conditions in other industries. The LWVOR believes the differences between agriculture and other industries justify some variance; but where farm work is similar to other labor, regulatory differences should be narrowed.
- All farmworkers should be fairly compensated, earning at least minimum wage.
- With the possible exception of piece-rate work, some farm labor should be eligible for overtime pay.
- Unemployment insurance should cover permanent, year-round farmworkers.
- Hourly-paid farmworkers should receive paid rest breaks;
- all farmworkers should be provided adequate time away from work for meals.
- The state should continue to improve the safety of agricultural workplaces for farm-workers.
- Rules for child labor and for the use of farm and forestry labor contractors should maintain high standards of worker protections.
- State laws and programs, including non-governmental efforts, should address farm-workers’ needs for a broad range of services, such as child care, safe and decent housing, sanitary working and living conditions, and access to education and health care. Education programs that are bilingual and culturally appropriate should be offered to assure that workers understand safe work practices, workplace rules, and grievance procedures.
LWVOR supports the right of Oregon farmworkers to collectively bargain. Farmworkers should have the right to hold union elections. Employer retaliation for collective activity should be prohibited. Legislation establishing fair rules for unionization by farmworkers should be developed through a dialogue between workers and employers. Monitoring of union elections and contracts by either a private commission or a state entity should be fair and under terms agreeable to both workers and employers. Mediation programs should be encouraged.
LWVOR believes consistent and adequate enforcement of state regulations is a key to better conditions for farmworkers. Currently, we find enforcement to be inadequate and inconsistent. LWVOR supports increasing enforcement staff, increasing fines and penalties for serious violations, and collection of civil penalties for infractions of laws. LWVOR supports programs to help farmers understand and comply with worker protection rules.
LWVOR believes that safe, decent, and affordable housing should be available to all farmworkers. Oregon currently has an acute shortage of such housing for its agricultural workforce. LWVOR supports increased state funding for farmworker housing, including support, with other funds, for planning, development costs, rural infrastructure, start up costs, operating subsidies, emergency housing, and training and assistance for sponsoring organizations. The state has an important role in ensuring the safety of farmworker housing provided on farms. Such housing that has not been registered with the state should be located and brought into compliance with state standards. Public funding should emphasize best practices, such as community-based housing, and should encourage new models that are decent and safe housing alternatives for seasonal and for permanent, year round workers; these two groups may require different types of housing.
National position
Health Policy – Adult Mental Health in Oregon
Adopted January 1987; Educational Update 2001*; language update 2008**
A. The League of Women Voters of Oregon supports a comprehensive and integrated adult mental health services delivery system in Oregon which:
1. Includes both community and state programs and facilities;
2. Provides for coordination of local and state mental health planning based on regular needs assessments;
3. Provides funding by a coordinated mix of federal, state, local, and private sector dollars; and
4. Includes state budget allocations that reflect service priorities jointly determined by Community Mental Health Programs and the state Addictions and Mental Health Division.
B. The League supports the concept of care, treatment, and support in the least restrictive environment possible which:
1. Ensures continuity of care and humaneness; and
2. Balances the rights and safety of individuals with mental disorders, other interested parties, and society in general.
C. The League believes that the mental health delivery system should include:
1. Adults with:
a. Mental and emotional illness; and
b. Alcohol and drug addiction.
1. Services that focus on recovery of the individual through use of evidence-based crisis intervention and ongoing support. These services could include alternatives to hospitalization, early intervention, residential services, supportive housing, and services delivered by peers in sufficient mix and quantity to afford an acceptable quality of life for consumers and their families.
2. Mental health service providers, administrators, advocates, consumers, their families, and lay citizens as participants in:
a. Service delivery planning;
b. The evaluation of services; and
c. The provision of community education.
D. The League supports an adult mental health civil commitment process which:
1. Ensures statewide consistency in the application of commitment statues;
2. Provides for adequate and equitable investigation and examination; and
3. Protects the rights and needs of all interested parties.
Mental Health Services for Children and Youth
Adopted January 1975
The League of Women Voters of Oregon supports a coordinated plan for comprehensive mental health services for all levels of need to children and youth provided underthe direction of a single state service agency responsible for basic state standards. We support the appropriation of consistent and sufficient funds to implement state-mandated programs.
A. A well-coordinated comprehensive mental health service delivery plan should cover such concerns as:
1. Community level services that are accessible, visible, and available to all income levels through a graduated fee schedule;
2. Community level programs that provide early diagnostic and referral services, 24-hour emergency care, treatment services and facilities, aftercare, and follow-up care;
3. The development of preventive programs;
4. Coordination of all levels of government and all public and private agencies working with children;
5. Standards of training for all personnel appropriate to job placement;
6. Consistent state funds supplemented by all available resources, public and private;
7. Utilization of all local resources;
8. Basic state standards which encourage quality treatment and care while permitting alternative programs.
B. The League of Women Voters further supports consistent and sufficient state funds for special education programs in the public school, including:
1. Programs based upon the child’s individual needs;
2. Special training for teachers working with disturbed children.
Adopted January 1975
National Position: Promote a health care system for the United States that provides access to a basic level of quality care for all U.S. residents and controls health care costs.
Adopted 2007
Parents are legally responsible for their children. When parents are unable to fulfill that responsibility, the League of Women Voters of Oregon believes that communities and governments at all levels have a responsibility to provide programs and services to meet the needs of runaway and homeless youth.
In order to help families stay together, prevent youth homelessness, and reduce the need for more expensive future services, the LWVOR supports providing services such as family crisis counseling, child care, parenting education, mental health and addiction treatment, low-cost housing, and health care.
When youth are separated from their families, the LWVOR supports providing services to these youth, such as shelter, food, education, health care, mental health and addiction treatment, plus outreach to encourage youth to use services. Older youth need additional services, such as assistance with independent living skills and with finding employment and more permanent housing.
These services may be provided by government or by private organizations that receive government and/or private funding. Coordination of these services is necessary to avoid duplication and service gaps. Youth should be served regardless of their race, color, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or disability.
All levels of government should have funding responsibility for preventive and supportive services to families and homeless youth. Private organizations are encouraged to provide funding and services. Government funds should be adequate and allocated according to demonstrated need. Agencies must show that their programs are effective.
National Position: Criteria for Housing Supply
The following considerations can be applied to programs and policies to provide a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family: The responsibility for achieving national housing goals rests primarily with the fed
eral government, which should:
a. Assure that our economic system is functioning to produce and maintain sufficient decent housing for citizens at all income levels;
b. Compensate for any failure or inadequacy of the system by building, financing, renting and selling homes to those citizens whose housing needs are not being met;
c. Give a variety of incentives to local jurisdictions to encourage them to provide within their boundaries an adequate supply of decent housing for low- and moderate-income groups;
d. Withhold federal funds from communities that fail to encourage such housing.
- State and local governments should assist by establishing effective agencies to aid, promote, coordinate and supplement the housing programs of the federal government and the private sector.
- Government at all levels must make available sufficient funds for housing-assistance programs.
- When families or individuals cannot afford decent housing, government should provide assistance in the form of income and/or subsidized housing.
- Government programs providing subsidies to the building, financing and insuring industries for housing for lower-income families should be evaluated in terms of units produced rather than in terms of benefits accruing to these industries.
- Government at all levels should develop policies that will assure sufficient land at reasonable cost on which to develop housing and that will assure fulfillment of other goals such as access to employment, preservation of open space, environmental cleanliness and beauty, and other aspects of a suitable living environment.
- Regional and metropolitan planning should be promoted to prevent haphazard urban growth, and housing for low- and moderate-income families should be provided as apart of all planned neighborhoods or communities.
- Lower-income families should not be segregated in large developments or neighborhoods. As their economic status improves, lower-income families should be enabled to continue to live in the same units as private tenants or as homeowners, if they are so inclined.
- Housing should be designed to meet human needs and should be built with amenities that will encourage economic integration within apartment buildings as well as neighborhoods.
- Publicly assisted housing should be included in viable, balanced communities, with provision for quality public services and facilities, including schools, transportation, recreation, etc., that will encourage integration and stability.
- Zoning practices and procedures that will counteract racial and economic isolation should be promoted.
- State and local governments should adopt and enforce:
a. Uniform building codes with standards based on performance;
b. Housing codes to protect the health and safety of all citizens. - State and local tax structures should be examined and revised to:
a. Benefit communities that build housing for lower-income families;
b. Encourage private owners to improve their homes; - Reduce speculative land costs.
- Government, industry and labor should encourage innovative building techniques to reduce the cost of housing production.
- Rights of tenants to negotiate for proper maintenance, management of facilities and services should be protected.
- Housing programs should be administered by individuals trained for the jobs and sympathetic with the needs of their clientele.
- Citizen groups should participate in the development of publicly assisted housing programs by:
a. Evaluating performance;
b. Activating nonprofit sponsorships;
c. Supporting legislation;
d. Developing public awareness of housing discrimination and need.
Adopted March 1981; Educational Update 2000*
The League of Women Voters of Oregon believes in coordinated planning and implementation of juvenile services.
A. Prevention of juvenile crimes should be a priority in our society. Prevention programs should:
1. Be available from early childhood to adulthood;
2. Involve family, peers, schools, and the community;
3. Make available early diagnosis and treatment for physical, mental, and educational problems;
4. Make available opportunities for all youth to learn responsibility and positive self images in their own communities; and
5. Make available opportunities for learning parenting skills.
B. Services for juvenile offenders should:
1. Be responsive to the needs of the youth and his or her family;
2. Make diversion programs available prior to entry as well as during involvement in the juvenile justice system;
3. Emphasize community planned and operated programs, including youth restitution programs;
4. Deal with youth offenders in the least restrictive environment;
5. Provide treatment-oriented secure custody;
6. Include appropriate evaluation, treatment, and placement for those already in the system.
C. The League opposes holding juveniles in adult jails. If appropriate alternatives are not available, care must be taken to assure that juveniles are out of sight and sound of incarcerated adults.
D. Status offenders should be diverted from the juvenile justice system whenever possible.
1. The League opposes holding status offenders in jail under any conditions.
2. Social services outside the juvenile justice system should be developed to meet their needs.
3. The juvenile court may be needed to provide help and protection for some youth.
E. Basic standards for juvenile services should rest with the state.
1. Minimal federal standards are acceptable.
2. Local governments should have flexibility for implementing programs consistent with these standards.
F. Funding for Juvenile services should be consistent and dependable from all sources:
1. Local, state, federal, and private;
2. Include parental ability to pay;
3. Any level of government mandating services should provide substantial funding for those services.
G. There should be a uniform statewide data system that provides meaningful and retrievable information while complying with right-to-privacy laws.
LWVOR uses several LWVUS positions relating to women in supporting and opposing specific legislative proposals, statewide initiatives and community activities. The positions include:
The League of Women Voters of the United States believes in the individual liberties guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. The League is convinced that rights now protected by the Constitution should not be weakened or abridged. The League of Women Voters of the United States believes that public policy in a pluralistic society must affirm the constitutional right of privacy of the individual to make reproductive choices. The League supports “equal rights for all regardless of sex.” The League further believes that governments at all levels share the responsibility to provide equality of opportunity for education, employment and housing for all persons regardless of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation or disability. The League supports programs and policies to prevent or reduce poverty and to promote self-sufficiency for individuals and families, including quality of health care, income assistance, housing and public transportation access.
