Legislation

This bill prohibits the searching of juveniles and pedestrians except when law enforcement has reasonable suspicion or probable cause of criminal activity, resumed data collection, and made certain agreements between law enforcement and immigration officials public.

Yet another problematic part of the Attorney General’s package of computer crimes legislation made it a crime to use “the name or persona of another person” to create a web page, send an e-mail or otherwise post on the internet without the person’s consent, including the name of elected officials.

In June, the Governor signed into law legislation expanding the availability of interpreters for court proceedings involving people who do not have the ability to understand or communicate effectively in English.

In June, the House passed legislation requiring health care providers to report alleged incidents of elder abuse to law enforcement, furthering a trend in recent years of the General Assembly approving legislation weakening the state’s health care confidentiality laws.

In June, the House passed legislation allowing the Department of Corrections to modify the terms of a person’s probation at any time, and for any reason.

In April, the ACLU testified before the House Health, Education and Welfare committee in support of legislation clarifying the ability of nurse practitioners and physician assistants to prescribe medication.

In June, the House approved legislation prohibiting any person convicted of a sex offense with a minor from holding employment in a wide range of jobs, even if that job never involved interaction with a child.

In June, the House approved legislation overhauling the state’s sex offender registration and community notification laws, replacing them with federal standards so costly that few states have chosen to implement them.

A set of bills dealing with the state’s littering laws will result in thousands of dollars of fines for Rhode Islanders, and thousands of dollars in proceeds for local law enforcement.