Legislation

Several bills have been heard this year that attempt to ease the purported financial burden on school departments in paying for school committee meeting notice ads in the newspaper.

The ACLU introduced legislation this year that will prohibit police departments from instituting quotas, or a set number of tickets, arrests and investigatory stops an officer must meet within a certain timeframe.

In 2008, the legislature authorized broad-based medical testing of newborns. This year, an ACLU bill was introduced to fine-tune the statute, requiring a medical benefit and known treatment before “other conditions” can be screened for.

ACLU-promoted legislation was reintroduced to restrict political surveillance and data collection by police.

For over thirty years, a federal statute has made it unlawful for any “federal, state or local government agency to deny to any individual any right, benefit, or privilege provided by law because of such individual’s refusal to disclose his or her social security number".

Legislation to stigmatize and humiliate the poor — by requiring welfare applicants to be drug-tested and fingerprinted — was the subject of recent hearings.

The ACLU testified against a bill greatly expanding the scope of criminal record checks performed on Department of Children, Youth and Families employees and volunteers.

Introduced for the past several years, the Affiliate will continue to push for strengthened racial profiling legislation.

The Senate heard testimony on a recurring piece of legislation that would allow police to pull cars over solely for seat belt violations.