Legislation

We opposed legislation which would have increased the penalties for individuals convicted of unnecessary cruelty to an animal and would have placed a life prohibition on that individual owning or possessing an animal for life.

In a piece of legislation indicative of the way that the General Assembly often attempts to “carve out” new crimes out of offenses that already are enshrined in state statute, this legislation would have made simple assault, already a misdemeanor, a more serious felony if committed on a taxi driver.

We supported legislation which would have promoted the pretrial release of individuals without the requirement of monetary bail.

We strongly supported a bill which would have prohibited the questioning of a juvenile suspected of criminal activity without a parent or legal guardian present.

We opposed legislation which lowers the age which would define an “elder” from 65 to 60 years old for the purposes of the criminal offense of “exploiting an elder."

We opposed legislation which would have placed even more stringent criminal record check requirements on Medicaid-funded personal care attendants than are currently required.

We supported three pieces of legislation which sought to address the unnecessary burdens that court costs impose on indigent criminal defendants.

We opposed legislation which would have created an “animal abuse registry” similar to the registration requirements already in effect for persons convicted of sex offenses.

In a move to address the fundamental due process implications of civil asset forfeiture, we supported legislation which would have provided stricter judicial oversight to the process and ensured that law enforcement cannot seize and forfeit a person’s belongings in the absence of criminal charges.