Legislation

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.

The General Assembly approved legislation barring residency requirements for municipal employees.

In a major victory for civil rights, the General Assembly approved sending to the voters in November 2006 a proposed constitutional amendment to restore the right to vote to felons upon release from incarceration.

ACLU intervention helped kill a bill that would have authorized the Town of Westerly to allow non-resident property owners to vote in certain town elections and serve on the Town’s finance board.