Update
5/1/25
Help us stop House Bill 2467 dead in its tracks.
House Bill 2467 is will cause harm by expanding involuntary treatment in Oregon. It was passed unanimously by the House Judiciary Committee on April 3 , despite stuff public opposition (scroll to the very bottom of this message to view link to a record of all the written testimonies) and referred to the Joint Ways and Means Committee.
This is an important call to action. If you are a resident of Oregon, scroll down and read ‘Call to Action for Oregon Residents’
If you are not a resident of Oregon, scroll down and follow ‘Call to Action for Non Residents of Oregon’
Regardless of where you live, please attend the monthly meeting of MindFreedom Oregon tomorrow,
Friday, May 2, at 1 pm pacific.
To register for MF Oregon’s monthly meeting click HERE
Since tomorrow’s weekly ‘Legislative Learning Lab’ will not be taking place tomorrow, this is a great way for people who are concerned about HB 2467 to organize to stop this bad bill.
We do not have an assurance of another public hearing on HB 2467 but we will notify you if there is an opportunity for you to testify against HB Bill 2467 in May. Meanwhile, please take action today by
Call to Action for Oregon Residents
Find out who your elected officials are HERE. Remember, you belong to a Senate District as well as a House District. Remember to write to both your Senator and your House Representative.
Write or call your elected officials. and tell them you are opposed to HB 2467 expanding involuntary commitment in Oregon
A sample letter can be used HERE
Use any variation of this letter keeping in mind that if you personalize the letter based on your personal story or expertise, it will carry greater weight than dozens of identical, form letters.
Address the letter to ‘Dear Representative x’ or ;’Dear Senator X’
We encourage you to send a copy of the letter to ‘office@mindfreedom.org’
For additional talking points, scroll down to ‘Talking Points’ below.
Call to Action for Non-Oregon Residents
Write to the Members of the Joint Ways and Means Committee!
You can use a sample letter HERE . Use any variation of this letter keeping in mind that if you personalize the letter based on your personal story or expertise, it will carry greater weight than dozens of identical, form letters.
You can address the letter to the members of the Joint Ways and Means Committee or you can address the letter to the Co-chairs, listing them by name (see below) as well as the ‘other members’.
Recipient fields: Paste the email addresses of the Committee Co-Chairs (see below) in the recipient field of your email message and paste the remainder of the Committee members (See ‘Everyone else’ below) in the cc field of your message
We encourage you to also send a copy of the letter to ‘office@mindfreedom.org’
I timed this activity and it took me exactly four minutes to send a letter usng these instructions making only changes to the sample letter. Remember, taking time to personalize this letter with your story/values is better so please take time. This is important!
Co-Chair Senator Kate Lieber and
Co-Chair Representative Tawna Sanchez
Sen.KateLieber@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.TawnaSanchez@oregonlegislature.gov
Everyone Else
Rep.DavidGomberg@oregonlegislature.gov
rep.gregsmith@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.DickAnderson@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.DanielBonham@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.AnthonyBroadman@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.WlnsveyCampos@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.LewFrederick@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.JamesManning@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.MikeMcLane@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.DavidBrockSmith@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.JaneenSollman@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.BenBowman@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.vikkibreeseiverson@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.JamiCate@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.ChristineDrazan@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.PaulEvans@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.EmersonLevy@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.MarkOwens@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.RickiRuiz@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.AndreaValderrama@oregonlegislature.gov
Talking points
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The enormous cost: 32 million to civilly commit 100 people for 180 days.
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Expanding civil commitment is ineffective; it creates a viscous cycle of ‘treat’ and ‘street’.
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It erodes trust.
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It is absurdly vague.
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Judges may accept expertise from a wider array of clinical ‘experts’ making it more likely that parents, neighbors, friends can shop around for the expertise they need to commit an individual.
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It confers judges supernatural powers to predict the behavior of individuals thirty days into the future.
LINK TO VIDEO OF HOUSE JUDICIARY HEARING ON 4/3 (Recorded)
https://olis.
You can viiew testimonies submitted in relation to HB 2467 on the
Oregon Legislative Information System (OLIS) webpage for House Bill 2467,
Update
4/25/25
House Bill 2467 to expand involuntary commitment in Oregon is now sitting in the Joint Ways and Means Committee because it costs millions of dollars to dehumanize and traumatize people with psych labels, according to a Justice Commission report HERE
With some luck, we can convince some fiscal conservatives on the Ways and Means Committee that in an era of federal cutbacks,it makes more sense to offer cheaper options such as peer delivered, person-centered, trauma-informed services to peope who are struggling, rather than locking them up and subecting them to interventions which the United Nations CRPD calls ‘torture.’
You can read a letter by David Oaks, in relation to HB 5006, an emergency funding bill sponsored by the House Ways and Means Committee HERE
and MFI’s letter HERE (These letters were solicited for HB 5006, a different bill, but they have boilerplate that can be used to oppose HB 2467.)
Those of you who cannot make it to tomorrow’s ‘Legislative Learning Lab’ will receive a full update by mail and directions for contacing your representative and helping us defeat House Bill 2467. Stay tuned to this channel!
Although our opponents have more money and political power than us, we have people power and we will not give up!!
Our next target will be the following members of the
Joint Ways and Means Committee
| Co-Chair |
Sen.KateLieber@oregonlegislature.gov
Co-chair
Rep.TawnaSanchez@oregonlegislature.gov
Co-Vice Chair
Rep.TawnaSanchez@oregonlegislature.gov
Co-Vice Chair
Rep.DavidGomberg@oregonlegislature.gov
Co-Vice Chair
rep.gregsmith@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.DickAnderson@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.DanielBonham@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.AnthonyBroadman@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.WlnsveyCampos@oregonlegislature.gov
en.LewFrederick@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.JamesManning@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.MikeMcLane@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.DavidBrockSmith@oregonlegislature.gov
Sen.JaneenSollman@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.BenBowman@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.vikkibreeseiverson@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.JamiCate@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.ChristineDrazan@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.PaulEvans@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.EmersonLevy@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.MarkOwens@oregonlegislature.gov |
Rep.RickiRuiz@oregonlegislature.gov
Rep.AndreaValderrama@oregonlegislature.gov
Update
4/17/25
For information about HB 2467 and why MFI is opposing, scroll down to alert dated 3/31/2025
This week, the Oregon Legislature’s Joint Ways and Means Committee, out of concern for cut-backs to the federal budget, proposed House Bill 5006 and held an emergency public hearing to solicit stakeholder input on the most important things to fund in next year’s state budget. Hundreds of Oregonians lined up to testify about programs and services they think are the most important things for Oregon lawmakers to fund, from sewage treatment plants to services for people with disabilities.
Due to the huge number of people in attendance and limited time, many who signed up to testify were not called to speak.
Three advocates, all supporters of MFI, were prepared to tell the committee that one wasteful item being proposed in next year’s budget, House Bill 2467, the expansion of civil commitment in Oregon, will cost taxpayers an estimated $32 million dollars, especially since civil commitment is harmful, ineffective, and erodes trust.
Opponents of forced psychiatry want to see lawmakers redirect money to life enhancing, trauma-informed, person-centered, community based services.
Since MFI supporters were among the many who were not allowed to speak, they submitted their testimony on the fiscal impact of civil commitment in writing, instead. You can read MFI’s letter HERE
Please join MFI by writing your own letter opposing the use of public funds on the expansion of civil commitment in Oregon which is expensive and ineffective. The deadline for written testimony is:
Friday, April 18, 5 pm pacific.
You can submit your written testimony HERE . Remember, this is not a public hearing for the bill we are opposing, HB 2467. These are letters in support of HB 5006 to obtain as much public input as possible during a potential funding crisis.
We don’t know if there will be an additional public hearing specifically to debate the fiscal impact of HB 2467 (the bill that expressly expands civil commitment in Oregon) in front of the House Ways and Means committee or if there will be an additional public hearing for HB 2467 in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
This is a small window of opportunity to show the negative, fiscal impact of expanding civil commitment in Oregon and have your opinions be a part of Oregon’s publc record through another bill.
For an update on the progress of HB 2467, view MFI’s webste HERE.
Soon, we will be disseminating information about how to contact individual Ways and Means Committee members, and provide you with talking points.related so you can reach out to them individually, to oppose to HB 2467
This is also a reminder that MFI will be hosting the fifth in a series of ‘Legislatiive Learning Labs’ tomorrow. Together, we will learn how bills are passed and strategize to make our voices heard.
Legislative Learning Lab
Friday, April 18, 1 pm pacific.
To register click HERE
Update
4/9/2025
“It’s a sad day for mental health in Oregon” according to David Oaks, co-founder of MindFreedom International, after we learned that the Oregon House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to pass House Bill 2467 to the Ways and Means Committee. We hope the bill will die there, but that is not likely.
A more likely scenario is that we have to repeat our efforts to fight this bill either in front of the Joint Ways and Means Committee or in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and perhaps after that by contacting every single legislator, if it is referred to the floor for a final vote.
For more information about HB 2467 and why we are opposed, scroll down to original alert dated 3/31/2025
At the public hearing on April 4, twenty psychiatric survivors and allies registered as witnesses to testify against the bill but only six opponents were allowed to speak. Read this ARTICLE written by a reporter who attended the hearing on April 4th.
Of the fourteen who were not allowed to testify in opposition, several individuals had traveled nearly 100 miles to the state capitol, one in a motorized wheelchair with an attendant. One electroshock shock survivor who was traumatized by their past, forced treatment, was so afraid of retaliation that they spoke in anonymity through their pastor. Others, including a mother of a young man who committed suicide while under civil commitment, waited patiently in a virtual ‘queue’ only to be told that the hearing was closed. In contrast, sixteen of the witnesses who registered to testify in favor of the bill were allowed to speak at length at the start of the hearing, including a parent whose wife was killed by their adult child, who he claimed was unable to access forced psychiatric treatment.
Furthermore, opponents of the bill were interrupted by a loud buzzer after two minutes, in sharp contrast to the the bill’s supporters who were not interrupted by a loud buzzer even though proponents took on average, two to three times longer (4-6 minutes each) than the bill’s opponents to tell the committee why it is necessary to erode the rights of people perceived to be mentally ill.
You can view a recording of the entire hearing HERE.
A written log showing the amount of time given to each witness is HERE
The Chairperson, Jason Kropf’s disgraceful handling of this hearing made it clear that Democracy is hard to come by when it comes to human rights in mental health.
The disproportionate amount of time allotted to the authors and supporters of the bill might fool many Oregonians into thinking that stakeholders of Oregon’s mental health system are overwhelmingly in favor of expanding civil commitment in Oregon but we know from experience that the stakeholders who matter the most, those with lived experience of civil commitment, are routinely ignored and silenced by those with more power and influence. There is much work to be done. We cannot give up.
While the supporters of HB 2467 have momentum, we will not be silenced. The bill has fiscal impact, (civil commitment is expensive) therefore the House Ways and Means Committee will probably schedule another public hearing, in which case, we need to show up to tell the committee with the purse strings how wasteful and ineffective civil commitment is in relation to person-centered, trauma informed preventative alternatives such as peer support.
Stay alert for future instructions and if you would like, register for our upcoming legislative learning lab this Friday, April 18 at 1 pm pacific where we will discuss the bill and where to go from here.
Register HERE
3/31/2025
Dear Friend, I’m reaching out to warn about serious alarm and a call to action in regards to a bill being proposed in the Oregon Legislature. If passed, House Bill 2467 will fundamentally lower the standard of civil commitment in Oregon, exposing ever more people to the harm of forced psychiatry. We urgently need your help to stop this bill by writing to your legislators. It hurts people, and we defeat these bills!
The deadline to submit formal letter in opposition to the House Judiciary Committee is Thursday, April 3rd. To register to testify, click HERE
Read sample testimonies that have already been submitted HERE and HERE
Nightmare Bill for Individuals In Crisis
The proposed bill seeks to amend existing laws to make it even easier for judges to civilly commit individuals by loosening the definitions of ‘medical expertise.’
But that’s not all. This new bill wants to give judges supernatural powers to look into a crystal ball and ‘predict’ if a loved one will be violent within the next thirty days and should therefore be civilly committed on the basis of that prediction.
A summary of how this bill expands civil commitment can be read HERE and a document produced by NAMI Oregon stating why they conceived this bill can be read HERE
Do you know anyone who can read thirty days into the future?
Of course, people can’t predict thirty days into the future. That is why criminal judges do not have the power to put individuals in jail based on a speculation that they ‘might’ commit a crime in the future. Such an absurd basis for taking away someone’s rights would never be allowed in a criminal proceeding. This amendment to existing civil commitment law should be tossed in the garbage.
Only a small percentage of ‘mentally ill’ people commit violent crimes. Solutions to deal with the very small percentage of individuals who commit violent crimes, who happen to meet DSM criteria should not provide the basis for creating new laws that will apply to the vast majority, of non-criminal, non-violent individuals who happen to meet DSM criteria.
This bill purports to be about ‘compassion’ and ‘care.’ We know that this is a lie.
Anyone who has been subjected to inhumane and harmful ‘treatment’ under civil commitment, such as forced drugging, forced shock, institutionalization, restraints, or solitary confinement, knows this bill hoodwinks the public—by trying to characterize forced treatment as care. Forced psychiatry is not about caring for individuals, it’s about controlling individuals.
Moreover, it’s about controlling individuals based on their decisions about ‘treatment’ during a temporary crisis, not whether or not they are actually violent.
Why We Are Opposing
Some of MFI’s specific concerns include:
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The enormous cost: 32 million to civilly commit 100 people for 180 days.
-
Expanding civil commitment is ineffective; it creates a viscous cycle of ‘treat’ and ‘street’.
-
It erodes trust.
-
It is absurdly vague.
-
Judges may accept expertise from a wider array of clinical ‘experts’ making it more likely that parents, neighbors, friends can shop around for the expertise they need to commit an individual.
-
It confers judges supernatural powers to predict the behavior of individuals thirty days into the future.
We Need People Power to Defeat HB 2467
To oppose these bills:
- Plan in advance, what you want to say; lived experience of civil commitment is a plus.
- If you live in Oregon, look up your lawmaker HERE.As the bill advances, you can contact your representative directly after April 3rd by calling or sending an email.
- Brush up on your knowledge of how the legislature passes laws HERE or drop in on MFI’s recurring ‘Legislative Learning Labs’ every Friday by registering in advance HERE
- Familiarize yourself examples from others who have already submitted testimony opposing HB 2467 HERE and HERE
- Register on Oregon Legislature Information System (OLIS), and click on ‘Escribe’ at the bottom left margin to sign up to receive updates on HB 2467
Legislative Learning Labs
To help amplify the voices of people with lived experience, we are hosting a series of drop-in-virtual, legislative labs. Join other psychiatric survivors and learn how to become an effective advocate for systemic change.
Together, every Friday, starting on March 21, participants who register (see below) will learn how to submit effective, written testimony by registering on OLIS. Participants will also learn how to submit testimony in person at the capitol or virtually during a live hearing.
Nobody deserves torture.