Legislation

Every year, the ACLU of RI lobbies on hundreds of bills during Rhode Island's annual Legislative Session. Below are some of the bills we have tracked and testified on before the General Assembly. For more info on advocating for the issues you care about, check out our Advocacy 101 Guide. To see how your Reps and Senators voted on various bills over the past few years, visit our Legislative Voting Records page.

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Mar 7, 2008

Residency Restrictions

Position: Oppose

In one of the most troubling actions of the session, the legislature hurriedly passed a bill making it a crime for any sex offender to live within 300 feet of a school.

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Mar 7, 2008

Juvenile Offenders

Position: Support

ACLU lobbying removed language from an Attorney General bill that would have allowed the names of juvenile sex offenders to be posted on a state website.

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Mar 7, 2008

Occupational Licensing

In approving a complete rewrite of the regulatory statute governing optometrists, the General Assembly – at the ACLU’s urging – took a modest step forward in eliminating troubling and archaic language that...

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Mar 7, 2008

H 7422, S 2963

Mar 7, 2008

H 7422, S 2963

Public Records (H 7422, S 2963)

Position: Support

For the first time in ten years, the General Assembly approved comprehensive legislation to strengthen the state’s Access to Public Records Act (APRA).

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Mar 7, 2008

S 2230

Mar 7, 2008

S 2230

Comprehensive Racial Profiling Bill (S 2230)

Position: Support

Despite persistent efforts, no action was ultimately taken on a comprehensive bill that would have strengthened the state’s racial profiling law.

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Mar 7, 2008

“Primary Seat Belt Law”

Position: Oppose

On a more positive note, ACLU vigilance thwarted a last-minute effort by the State Police and the Department of Transportation to obtain passage of their bill making seat belt violations a primary offense...

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