Priorities

We all deserve to feel safe in our homes, on our streets, in small towns, and in big cities. As Attorney General, I am committed to building safe communities across Oregon. I have a unique perspective, having sat in a courtroom at both the prosecutor’s table and–as a young person on the wrong path–at the defendant’s table. I will bring all those experiences to the job of Attorney General.

As a state legislator I passed common-sense gun laws to protect survivors of domestic violence, increased funding for background checks, and get ghost guns off our streets. I will continue that work as Attorney General by building an integrated plan to protect Oregonians from gun violence, especially in our schools.

As a member of the Oregon House, I worked hard to improve public safety. Over the last six years, we’ve added more than forty state troopers to keep our highways and communities safe, added classes at the academy to get officers on the road faster in communities across Oregon, and supported investments in the State Crime Lab and Medical Examiners so officers can be more responsive to serious crimes in our communities.

While the Department of Justice is not a law enforcement agency, it has a significant role in making Oregonians and their communities safer. As your Attorney General, I will work to strengthen the DOJ’s Criminal Justice Division’s partnership with District Attorneys and Law Enforcement. Some of the resources I will focus on are:

• • • District Attorney/Law Enforcement Assistance Program (LEAP), to provide around-the-clock legal advice and investigate and prosecute complex criminal cases, including homicide, child exploitation, driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII), domestic violence, and elder abuse.
    • Oregon Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), which focuses on investigating, prosecuting, and preventing the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet.
    • Organized Crime Division, which is charged with detecting and combating organized crime and investigating allegations of public officials involved in corruption or malfeasance.
    • Commission on Statewide Law Enforcement Standards of Conduct and Discipline, which works to ensure fair, informed law enforcement practices throughout the state.
    • Working with law enforcement and the legislature to prevent violence and sexual assault, especially at the hands of trusted community leaders like health care professionals.

  Finally, to help rebuild trust between police and families, I’ll work with law enforcement to give them the tools they need to do their jobs and criminal justice reform advocates to make sure our justice system works for all Oregonians.

As a child, I saw the impacts of addiction and substance abuse up close and even attended AA meetings with my mother. This is a deeply important and personal issue to me. Addiction is a significant public health crisis; effectively and immediately delivering treatment to those struggling with it must be a top priority. It is also clear that addiction is part of a complex web of issues that include homelessness, mental and behavioral health, and criminal activity.

As Attorney General, I will bring together law enforcement and criminal justice reform advocates to find proven, solutions-driven approaches to better connect people to services while strengthening efforts to go after large-scale drug trafficking, especially the fentanyl epidemic.

It’s clear that housing and substance abuse can often be linked together.

During Oregon’s housing crisis I have worked to create the largest housing packages in the state’s history to get people off the streets and into stable housing and increase the supply of housing so homes are more affordable for all Oregonians. I have been frustrated by the red tape and time that it has taken for these investments and policies to make an impact in our communities. As Attorney General, I will work with state agencies to streamline these legal processes to get these investments into communities so that services can be delivered now.

There is nothing more intensely personal than the decision of when or whether to have a child. That decision, and any decision about reproductive health, is a right that should belong to the individual – not a judge and certainly not politicians. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was a harsh reminder that we can never take our fundamental rights for granted. The extreme Dobbs decision is making women and families across the country less safe and harming millions of people, most especially people of color, and low-income individuals, worsening existing inequality.

I am proud of my work in the legislature to ensure that here in Oregon reproductive rights and healthcare have the strongest protections in the nation. As Attorney General, I will fiercely defend those protections and stand up to Republican attempts to impose any national abortion bans and efforts by some anti-choice states to reach beyond their borders to restrict safe access to abortion. I am committed to protecting, strengthening, and expanding safe, equitable access to reproductive and gender-affirming care, no matter who you are, where you live, or how much money you make.

As an attorney who has worked extensively on a broad range of consumer protection cases, I have seen how these issues have become far more urgent, especially with rising economic inequality. Making sure that we are enforcing consumer protection laws is critical, and as Attorney General, I’ll proactively work to take on predatory lenders, scam artists, identity theft, credit fraud, and abusive practices by insurance companies; and improve and expand the state’s efforts to make sure consumers are treated legally and fairly in the marketplace.

I plan on expanding the work of the DOJ to investigate and prosecute those who violate the Unlawful Trade Practices Act (UTPA) in Oregon. Currently, DOJ does not have the adequate staffing or resources to fully execute this mission. This means hiring additional attorneys and investigators to systematically review consumer protection complaints and find bad actors. This scrutiny will allow the Oregon DOJ to build impactful cases against large interests, companies, and groups breaking Oregon law, whether through scams, telemarketing, robocalls, illegal auto dealing, or other predatory practices. Every Oregonian should have a place to turn to when they’ve been harmed or taken advantage of by a bad actor.

The fundamental foundation of the American Dream is a simple proposition: if you work hard, sacrifice, and play by the rules, you have a chance to build a better life, and offer your children a better future. That’s hard enough on an even playing field. So, when working families have unfair and illegal obstacles put in their path, it’s outrageous.

As the child of a single, working mother who relied on child support showing up on time to get us through the month, I understand the challenges facing many Oregon working families. This matters not just for them but for the businesses, schools, and healthcare systems we all count on.

As Attorney General, I will protect workers from wage theft, misclassification, and child labor violations, stop harmful practices like on-call scheduling, defend workers from union-busting and workplace violations, protect workers from unfair non-compete agreements and tip-stealing by their employers, and protect everyone from sexual harassment at their place of work.

Oregon’s Attorney General investigates violations of labor law and holds violators accountable. In other states, attorneys general have significantly strengthened that role by creating labor bureaus within their offices. Oregon has the opportunity to learn from other states’ successes, so as your next Attorney General, I will build a new labor enforcement team within the DOJ to ensure all Oregonians’ rights are protected in the workplace.
Read the full plan here »

Oregon has a natural heritage of spectacular landscapes, wildlife, clean air, and water. As an Oregonian and a father, I believe it is our responsibility to protect that heritage and our children’s future by holding polluters accountable and tackling climate change here in Oregon.

I will continue and expand our partnership with the National Environmental Coalition of Attorneys General to push for Oregon to be a leader in tackling national issues that also affect us here at home.

Under my leadership, the Oregon Department of Justice will work to hold polluters accountable for the damage they do to our water, land, and air. For example, the Oregon State Scenic Waterways Act, which protects our drinking water, wild fish, and river ecosystems, hasn’t seen a substantial expansion since 1988 and doesn’t protect nearly enough of our waterways. I plan to work with our state government to not only expand these protections, but more strictly enforce them.