Legislation

Legislation aimed to make Rhode Island the next state to adopt “death with dignity” legislation, allowing terminal patients to obtain medication to end their lives.

The ACLU of RI has long objected to legislative efforts to impose additional qualifications on candidates to qualify for the ballot. Just as the legislature should refrain from setting unnecessary barriers in the way for people to vote, it should not add unnecessary obstacles to get on the ballot.

No person should face the end of their life worrying if their memory will be negated by someone's ignorance or, worse, hostility. Legislation introduced this session ensures that no person will be misgendered on their death certificate, either by accident or on purpose.

Tragedies during traffic stops nationwide prompted legislation last year integrating the responsibilities of a driver during a traffic stop into the current driver’s education curriculum; a number of organizations additionally argued that drivers should be taught their rights during such a stop.

This misnomered legislation from the Attorney General makes it a crime to electronically transmit nude or sexually explicit images without the person’s consent, regardless of the sender’s intent.

"Moral turpitude" is a legally ambiguous term that has caused considerable confusion in Rhode Island. Currently, this antiquated term can be found in several professional licensing statutes as a basis on which to deny or revoke a person's professional license.

Following the filing of criminal charges against Senator Nicholas Kettle, the RI Senate rushed to hold a vote seeking his expulsion. The State Constitution gives the Senate the power to punish its members, but that power should be exercised with an abundance of caution.

Rhode Island remains one of only three states to still have on the books a statute declaring as "civilly dead" any person serving a life sentence. It's a provision so archaic the Harvard Law Review called it "outworn as a mode of punishment" all the way back in 1937.