Legislation

As communities nationwide grapple with the best ways to promote transparency and accountability in law enforcement agencies, the implementation of body cameras has become a major part of the discussion.

In a move to ban a pervasive form of racial discrimination, we strongly supported a bill which would have expanded the definition of race under our state anti-discrimination laws to include “traits historically associated with race,” importantly including hair texture and protective hairstyles.

As a state with one of the most protective Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights statutes in the country, it is long past time for significant revisions to be made to this law. A number of bills to do that were introduced this session.

While most states employ a statewide certification or decertification system for law enforcement personnel, RI is one of only four states that does not. This legislation would have corrected that by creating strict criteria for the decertification of officers who engage in unacceptable conduct.

Noting that this bill was not only an assault on free speech but that it would inappropriately quash important teaching and conversation around such issues as institutional racism or sexism, we opposed legislation which sought to ban the teaching of “divisive topics” in public schools.

As the likelihood of recreational marijuana legalization in RI advances, it has become even more critical to ensure that civil liberties and social equity concerns are prioritized and centered. Both the proposed FY 2022 budget and standalone legislation seek to do so, but far from comprehensively.

We supported this bill which proposes measures to increase teacher diversity.

We strongly supported a bill which would have ensured that information on school-based arrests or SRO-related incidents on school campuses, including the number of SROs employed by a school, was made publicly available.

The ACLU has long opposed the introduction of SROs to school campuses in RI, as their presence can inappropriately redefine normal adolescent behaviors into issues of criminal justice. Two pieces of legislation would address the presence of SRO’s on campuses – one positively, and one negatively.