Faith Action Network to host annual legislative conference

The theme for this year’s Eastern Washington Legislative Conference is money: grace and justice. The daylong convention on Saturday features sessions on wage theft, criminal justice reform, the death penalty, environmental issues, immigration and human services.

The annual conference is organized by the Faith Action Network.

Spokane attorney Breean Beggs and Tia Griffin of the Washington Community Action Network Spokane are keynote speakers.

Beggs has spent the past 20 years presenting cases involving disadvantaged people to judges, juries and mediators, and he’s a well-known advocate for police and jail reform.

Griffin will speak about CAN’s Racial Justice Report Card on Washington state legislators.

Other presenters include Shar Lichty of the Peace and Action Justice League and Paul Benz, the director of the Faith Action Network.

Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart and architect Sue Lani Madsen, who’s also a rancher in Edwall, will lead a workshop on effective campaigning.

In the afternoon, Benz and Scott Cooper, director of Parish Social Ministry with Catholic Charities in Spokane, will present a legislative briefing session about what’s going on in Olympia and how faith advocates can serve as effective change agents.

Registration for the conference is required.