Legislation

We supported this legislation which would have authorized the expungement of criminal convictions related to the possession of marijuana, presumably in conjunction with the legalization of the drug.

The ACLU opposed this legislation which would have indefinitely extended a reimbursement program for school districts that choose to hire additional SROs.

Both chambers collaborated to put forth a package of bills intended to provide a comprehensive overhaul of the public education system in Rhode Island.

This legislation would have statutorily mandated a study to determine whether these racial disparities exist in both the process to obtain a state license to sell marijuana and in arrest and conviction rates for marijuana-related crimes.

This bill would have clarified the current tax exemption that exists for the sales of books by their authors to apply to works of non-fiction as well as fiction.

We testified in support of legislation which added feminine hygiene products to the items exempted from sales taxes.

This legislation would have created a commission to study the impact of decriminalizing prostitution laws in Rhode Island.

While we supported several provisions in this bill, which addressed the sale and maintenance of consumers’ personal information by businesses, we noted that the legislation could have been strengthened in two ways in order to more effectively protect consumers.

The ACLU expressed concerns about the breadth of this legislation, which allows representatives of the RISPCA, a private organization, to seize animals if they appeared to be “aged,” “disabled,” or “sick,” without any requirement of exigent circumstances.