Legislation

The House and Senate Judiciary committees considered legislation to drastically Rhode Island’s computer crimes laws by altering the definitions of old laws and creating new offenses.

The legislative session brought a familiar bill allowing for the collection of DNA from any person arrested for a crime of violence, which included larceny offenses such as pickpocketing.

Three years’ worth of traffic stop data in Rhode Island demonstrated consistently that black and Hispanic drivers are twice as likely as whites to be stopped and searched by police, yet whites are more likely to be found with contraband when searched.

Casting aside the disappointing outcome of 2011’s marriage equality legislation, advocates returned this year with the marriage equality bill.

Paradoxically, while Rhode Island continues to deny same-sex couples the right to marry, the state also prevents couples legally married in other states from divorcing.

In a stunning response to the Woonsocket cross controversy, the General Assembly overwhelmingly approved legislation creating a permanent commission to determine whether any memorial in the state of Rhode Island is religious or secular.

The General Assembly passed landmark legislation to protect people from employment, housing, and voting discrimination, among others, solely because of their homeless status.

Nationwide, women face higher premiums than men for the same health insurance, leaving women disproportionately less able to purchase vital health care coverage.

While the ACLU weighed in on the expected spate of abortion bills, including bills mandating ultrasounds before abortions and codifying Roe v. Wade into state law, perhaps the most heated debate came from an innocuous bill seeking to create a licensing program for genetic counselors.