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 Scorecards page.
We supported legislation which would provide that individuals could not lose their drivers' license solely because of their failure to pay traffic fines. People who get these fines often face a tough...
We opposed a bill which seeks to broaden the current statutory limitations on the implementation of speed cameras by expanding their use from within 1/4 of a mile of a school to 3/4 of a mile. Instead of...
We opposed an Attorney General-sponsored bill seeking to double and triple the prison penalties for a variety of driving offenses, noting that the approach of sending offenderes to prison for longer periods...
Proving that no civil liberties victory is left unpunished, a bill which the ACLU successfully obtained amendments to in the 2023 session resurfaced again. At a time of rising poverty and extensive...
We opposed legislation which would allow municipalities to record liens against a person’s property if they failed to pay any municipal fines – including for parking violations or minor offenses like...
The ACLU of RI opposed a provision in the budget which would provide new authority to the Office of Internal Audit and Program Integrity to investigate reports of alleged fraud in public assistance programs...