Thank you for your support in 2020 - a very tough year on many fronts and one we hope you all weathered as well as possible. Please help us continue our work in 2021 with a year-end donation. Your donation will allow us to continuing advocating for animals in state and local government and support the campaigns of animal-friendly candidates. If you donate before year-end, you may also qualify for Oregon's political contribution tax credit.
Humane Voters Oregon advocates for animals in Oregon's political process and elections. You can support us with donations to one or both of our two funds. Donations to our political action committee, Humane Voters Oregon PAC, help us support animal-friendly political candidates by contributing to their campaigns. When candidates get support from Humane Voters Oregon PAC, they know it's coming from people like you who care about animals and who want them to make animal welfare a top priority. You can also donate to our general account, Humane Voters Oregon, to support our general operations and advocacy.
Contributions to Humane Voters Oregon PAC qualify for Oregon's political contribution tax credit. You can give up to $50 this year ($100 for a couple filing jointly) and get the full amount deducted from your state taxes when you complete your return for 2020. It won't cost you anything and it will help make animal welfare a more important issue in Oregon's political process and elections.*
With your support in 2020 we:
Endorsed and supported more than 40 candidates for the Oregon Legislature, most of whom won election or re-election.
Raised awareness with the Oregon Board of Agriculture regarding flaws in Oregon's cougar management plan (primarily that it relies too much on killing cougars).
Continued to advocate for a moratorium on factory-style dairies in Oregon, including meeting with Governor Kate Brown on the topic. Our work helped close a mega-dairy near Boardman in 2019 and we are digging in to fight another one proposed for the same area.
Advocated against budget cuts to the state's anti-poaching program and in favor of cuts to "predator control" funding. Most of the anti-poaching programs were retained and "predator control" funding was cut.
Advocated before the state Fish and Wildlife Commission for a phase out of hunting and trapping of animals solely for fur and for requiring trappers to check traps more frequently to reduce animal suffering. The Commission continued hunting and trapping for "furbearers" but set up a work group to make recommendations on trap-check times.
Prepared our Legislative Scorecard to show which Oregon legislators were the best (and worst) for animals in 2020 as well as prior years.
Advocated for animals in the 2020 Oregon Legislature (the so-called "short" session, which lasts only 35 days). We advocated for stricter limits on factory-style dairies and for a ban on coyote-killing contests. The bill to ban coyote-killing contests was passed by the House of Representatives but, like almost all 2020 legislation, it could not move forward because many legislators boycotted the session to prevent passage of a bill on climate-change.
As you can see, it was a busy year for us. Now we need your help to rebuild our funds so we can continue to advocate for animals and support political candidates who will help improve the lives of animals in Oregon. Please help animals today by making a donation to Humane Voters Oregon PAC or Humane Voters Oregon. Thank you so much for your support!
*Oregon's political contribution tax credit is not available to people with an adjusted gross income of more than $75,000 ($150,000 for couples filing jointly). Contributions to Humane Voters Oregon (our non-PAC fund) do not quality for the tax credit and are not tax deductible. Even if your contribution does not quality for a tax credit or deduction, we very much appreciate your support. It will help us give animals a greater voice in Oregon's political process and elections.