Legislation

This important piece of anti-discrimination legislation amends the state Fair Employment Practices Act to prohibit an employer from requiring that an employee enter a non-disclosure or non-disparagement agreement as a condition of employment.

We strongly supported a proposed change to the state’s Fair Employment Practices Act which would have expanded the definition of “employee” to cover a wider breadth of working personnel.

We opposed legislation which would have authorized a civil action against parents who demonstrate “willful or wanton disregard” in their exercise of “supervision and control” over a child who has committed the offense of cyberstalking or cyberharassment.

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 this proposed constitutional amendment which would have removed the state Constitution’s onerous requirement that bars individuals from voting in an election, except for President, unless they have registered to vote at least 30 days in advance.

We supported a number of pieces of legislation have been introduced with the intention of barring private prisons from operating in the state of RI entirely and limiting the ability for carceral facilities in RI to cooperate with ICE.

Legislation supported by the ACLU would have allowed for certain terminally ill patients to make knowing and competent decisions about death and peacefully determine the end of their lives with dignity, autonomy, and privacy.

As an important piece of criminal justice reform legislation, this bill would have slightly redefined in two ways the definitions of “felony” and “misdemeanor” in Rhode Island law.

We joined a number of organizations in supporting legislation which would have limite the ability for carceral facilities in RI to utilize solitary confinement, noting that best practices point towards eliminating solitary confinement as a way to keep prisons safer, healthier, and reduce recidivism.