Legislation

Legislation was introduced to eliminate the exemption of the RI State Board of Elections from the rule-making provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Currently, the Board can adopt regulations affecting the voting process without having to hold a public notice or hearing process.

Women nationwide earn on average just 77% of the wages earned by men, with that percentage dropping significantly for women of color. Legislation aimed to address the issue in Rhode Island by making it easier for individuals facing wage differentials to file a civil action against their employer.

This important legislation would make it unlawful for employers to refuse to hire, discharge or otherwise discriminate against an individual on account of their use of medical marijuana.

While addressing the serious issue of maternal mental health disorders is a laudable goal, legislation under consideration this year requiring a mental health screening for mothers before release from a birthing facility would have set a troubling precedent for the privacy and treatment of new moms.

A Joint Resolution was introduced which proposed to put before voters a Constitutional amendment establishing the right to an adequate education for Rhode Island’s youth as a fundamental and judicially enforceable right.

Some of the most concerning civil liberties legislation this year came in the form of legislation dealing with your health, including bills to require that all adult immunization records be automatically included in a DOH database unless the patient opts out.

Among the most dangerous of legislation put forward by the Attorney General’s office in response to the opioid crisis was this measure to impose a life sentence on anyone who provides an unlawful controlled substance to a person, when consumption of that substance results in the person’s death.

The ACLU supported various bills aimed at repealing or amending 2016 legislation that authorized the installation of speed cameras to issue traffic tickets.

This year, the General Assembly considered yet another exemption to the confidentiality of the state prescription drug monitoring database in the form of legislation allowing health insurers, workers’ compensation insurers and HMOs, among others, to access private prescription information.