Good News for 5NP 4 OR
HB 2143 passes out of committee and on to the House floor
On Tuesday, all nine members of the Oregon House Committee on Behavioral Health and Healthcare voted “aye” to 5NP! Read about the Committee’s action here. That means HB 2143 could be up for a vote by the entire House within the next week or two, buoyed by a “Do pass with amendments” recommendation.
I think the unanimous vote is due to two factors that made it easy for the Committee to say yes: 1) most of them received 5NP during the hearing (I will never get tired of telling that story) and 2) the Oregon Medical Board was extremely helpful in offering advice on the language of the amendments and in providing a detailed fiscal impact statement. Most of the questions that legislators might’ve had, regarding “how would it work to have laypeople providing 5NP in their own communities?” had been anticipated and answered as much as possible, so they knew what they were saying yes to.
I feel like this vote validates our decision to lead with transparency and collaboration. (Is there a way to be MORE transparent than offering a live demonstration?) There’s also an element of prefigurative politics: we want to share 5NP with all Oregonians, so we shared it with the members of the House Committee on Behavioral Health and Healthcare.1 5NP for everyone! Prefigure the world you want to see!
We’re very hopeful about HB 2143’s prospects and we’ll keep you posted!
Not to mention, sharing 5NP with many legislative staffers in prior pop-ups at the Capitol. See also, On Branding. As Noni of Cohort 8, who organized the March 2024 5NP pop-up at the Capitol Building, said: “Offering 5NP to legislators is a branding exercise. Why would we just ask them for things when we have something we could GIVE them?”