Legislation

Before enacting a bill providing tax credits for the production of movies and television shows in Rhode Island, the General Assembly took heed of ACLU censorship concerns.

The General Assembly passed an ACLU-drafted bill barring the state or municipalities, including schools, from making use of radio frequency identification (RFID) devices on students, employees, or clients.

As the result of a major push by Providence city officials, the General Assembly approved legislation authorizing the installation of “red light cameras,” but only after accepting a bevy of ACLU amendments designed to mitigate some of the organization’s civil liberties concerns.

The Senate passed, but the House took no action on, legislation based in part on a USA Patriot Act provision to give local law enforcement broad authority to obtain subscriber information, including bank and credit card numbers, from Internet service providers without a warrant.

For the second time in five years, the Senate passed a dangerous bill that would require women to wait at least 24 hours before obtaining an abortion and impose onerous and biased “informed consent” requirements unlike those for any other medical procedure.

“The oldest profession” appeared to weigh heavily on the minds of some legislators this session, due to some recent highly publicized police raids on Providence “spas” claiming to offer massage services that were actually fronts for prostitution.

Although no vote was taken in committee this year, support for same-sex marriage legislation continued to grow.

On a related front, a bill providing for death benefits to the domestic partners of police officers or firefighters who die in the line of duty appears close to passage.

The legislature enacted an ACLU proposed bill imposing penalties on any employer who videotapes employees in a restroom, locker room, or room designated by an employer for changing clothes.