Legislation

A pair of bills to address the opioid overdose crisis would have caused considerable damage instead by allowing for the involuntary commitment of people with substance abuse disorders considered a danger to themselves or others.

In April, the ACLU testified in opposition to a resolution encouraging "law enforcement officials to recognize white nationalist and neo-nazi groups as terrorist organizations." While these groups may indeed promote odious views, the First Amendment nevertheless protects their right to speak.

In April, the ACLU testified before the House Judiciary committee in support of legislation to clarify the law protecting medical marijuana patients from discrimination by their employers.

Legislation passed by the General Assembly this year will impose additional onerous registration and community notification requirements on sex offenders which make it even more difficult to find housing and rehabilitate and reintegrate into society.

This session, the Attorney General sought to undermine an ACLU-backed 2016 law concerning warrants and cell phone location tracking by promoting legislation allowing law enforcement to keep you in the dark - perhaps indefinitely - if your location has been tracked.

Legislation sought to permit the recipients of "less than honorable" military discharges to qualify for state veterans' benefits when the discharge was based on the veteran's sexual orientation.

Legislation under consideration this year would have required the use by certain state contractors of computer software to verify the hours worked on computers for that contract, but the ACLU was concerned about the inherent privacy issues in the bill.

There were a number of bills this year seeking to improve school security by imposing law enforcement-type enforcement measures into the school setting. Among those was a proposal requiring that ten percent of school aid be allocated to school safety measures.

This bill would have greatly expanded a tax credit for businesses that make donations to "scholarship organizations" that funnel money to private and parochial schools for tuition purposes.