The state legislature has just approved funding for the State Human Rights Commission to expand its presence in Vancouver for the 2007 fiscal year, pending signature by the Governor. Various options were presented to the legislature which finally approved a state human rights investigator to come to Vancouver four days per month, as well as two weeks of education and outreach within the community, including meetings with community groups and the distribution of official brochures explaining the work of the Commission. Local access to the State Human Rights Commission has historically been limited to investigators taking complaints via a 1-800 number in Olympia.
Efforts to create a local Human Rights Commission were sidelined in 2000 when a public referendum reversed an interlocal agreement between Clark County and the City of Vancouver to open a human rights office in our community. The lengthy proposal for that effort was forwarded to the state office again recently by the RNA in order to preserve the technical research provided, including statistics on incidents of discrimination within the community, demographics, and workplans. The RNA attended two recent scoping meetings where State Commissioners assessed the need for a greater local presence to deal with discrimination complaints and investigations. Commissioners received comments from the general public on serious incidents of discrimination and the need for a greater official presence from the state.
According to the admistrator of the State Commission, preliminary work can now begin to locate office space for the local investigator to use, which is likely to be housed within another state agency. Once funds have been made available after July 2006 for the next fiscal budget cycle, work can begin with the local Human Rights outreach program.
