Organizers hopeful as these four equity initiatives submitted in Bellingham
People First Bellingham has submitted petitions for four proposed social justice ballot measures, and organizers are optimistic that they’ve collected enough signatures to force City Council action.
If petitioners have gathered enough signatures, the City Council has 30 days to consider whether the measures should be enacted into law or placed on the Nov. 2 ballot, said James Erb, senior assistant city attorney.
Petitions were due by June 26 to Whatcom County Auditor Diana Bradrick.
Some 6,188 signatures were required for each of the four measures and volunteer Sage Jones told The Bellingham Herald that the group collected nearly one-third more signatures than was required, allowing for some signatures to be invalidated.
“We definitely hit our goals for signatures collected,” Jones said. “We won’t know until the end of the month how many are considered valid.”
Bradrick said that checking signatures to make sure they are from voters registered in Bellingham could take through July
Jones said 9,594 signatures were collected for Initiative 1; 9,094 signatures were collected for Initiative 2; 8,975 signatures were collected for Initiative 3; and 9,033 signatures were collected for Initiative 4.
People First Bellingham’s four measures are written as city ordinances, each addressing a different topic:
▪ 2021-01 — Renter Relocation Assistance: Requires 90 days written notice for a no-cause eviction or if a tenant’s rent will rise more than 5%. It also requires landlords to provide relocation assistance for a “no-cause” evictions or rent increases of more than 8%.
▪ 2021-02 — Ordinance Restricting the Use of Advanced Police Technologies: Prohibits the city from buying, contracting for, or using facial recognition technology, prohibits predictive policing technology, prohibits the police from keeping unlawfully acquired data.
▪ 2021-03 — Neutrality in Labor Campaigns: Prohibits anyone who receives city funds from using those funds to discourage unionization efforts, provides for private enforcement actions, and other labor protections.
▪ 2021-04 — Fair Treatment for Hourly Wage Employees: Ensures “adequate compensation” for hourly-wage and gig workers — especially those working in grocery, food service, health care, education, child care and retail stores open to the public — during the rest of the COVID-19 pandemic and during future states of emergency. It also includes provisions for $4 an hour premium pay and predictable work schedules.
People First Bellingham is a coalition of partners including Jobs With Justice, Imagine No Kages, Whatcom Democratic Socialists of America, the Whatcom Human Rights Task Force and the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center.
They raised some $15,400, according to reports filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission.
