Legislation

Last year, Providence city officials persuaded the General Assembly to approve a bill authorizing the installation of automated “red light cameras,” but only after accepting a bevy of ACLU amendments designed to mitigate some of the privacy and due process concerns they raise.

In response to media stories about the brokering of telephone records, the General Assembly has enacted a law that significantly restricts the procurement or sale of telephone records without the customer’s consent.

At present, health care providers are required to report the names of patients with AIDS, but not those who are only HIV-positive.

The General Assembly passed an ACLU-drafted bill barring the state or municipalities, including schools, from making use of radio frequency identification (RFID) devices on students, employees, or clients.

As the result of a major push by Providence city officials, the General Assembly approved legislation authorizing the installation of “red light cameras,” but only after accepting a bevy of ACLU amendments designed to mitigate some of the organization’s civil liberties concerns.

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.

“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.

For the third year in a row, Affiliate lobbying helped defeat a bill, based in part on a USA Patriot Act provision, to give local law enforcement authorities broad authority to obtain from Internet service providers information, including bank and credit card information, of subscribers.

In the waning hours of the session, the legislature approved an important ACLU bill designed to address privacy concerns raised by the state’s new barcoded drivers’ licenses.