UPDATE Monday, Sept. 16, 2019: Gov. Kate Brown signed the bill.

The Oregon House on Wednesday passed a hate crime bill that would make the offense a felony and require statewide documentation of reported incidents.

Senate Bill 577 now heads to Gov. Kate Brown’s desk. She is expected to sign it.

The House voted 59-0 to pass the bill, with one lawmaker excused. It won bipartisan support in the state Senate last week.

The bill also changes the name of the charge from “intimidation’’ to bias crime and adds gender identity as a protected class.

It marks the first major changes to Oregon’s 1981 intimidation statute, which many called outdated. The bill resulted from a task force that Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum convened last summer to identify gaps in the investigation of hate-related crimes and support for victims.

People who report encounters that don’t rise to a hate crime that can be prosecuted will be referred to local services, a hate crimes hotline or a hate crimes response coordinator in the state Department of Justice.

The bill also would require all police agencies to better document reports of alleged hate crimes, even if they don’t result in arrests, and share that material with the state Criminal Justice Commission. District attorneys’ offices would have to track their hate crime caseloads and report to the state who is prosecuted, who is convicted, the sentences issued and rates of recidivism.

Rep. Jennifer Williamson, D-Portland, said passing the legislation would serve as an appropriate tribute just over 30 years after the killing of Mulugeta Seraw, a 28-year-old Ethiopian immigrant who was surrounded and bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat by three skinheads on a Southeast Portland street on Nov. 13, 1988.

Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Clackamas, said she didn’t need data to know that hate crimes occur in Oregon. “You can ask any black or brown person on any corner, ‘Do hate crimes exist?’ They’ll tell you in an instant these crimes exist. They’re happening every day,’’ she said.

Bynum said she hopes there’s funding to make sure police and victim advocates respond quickly and effectively to those who report the crimes.

The bill calls for up to $201,380 in federal grant money and $46,453 from the general fund to support the Justice Department’s victim services division. It also provides $235,476 for the state Criminal Justice Commission. The money will support the hiring of a hate crimes coordinator in the Justice Department, a research analyst for the state justice commission and allow for law enforcement training.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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