Legislation

The ACLU of RI is again working with student and education groups to stop high-stakes testing from keeping otherwise qualified students from graduating.

The ACLU of RI testified in February before the House Health, Education and Welfare committee in opposition to legislation allowing school committees to charge fees to those students participating in extracurricular activities.

Under current RI law, DNA can only be collected from individuals convicted of certain felonies; the ACLU testified that collecting from individuals who have merely been arrested undermined the presumption of innocence and was a dangerous step towards the creation of a comprehensive DNA database.

In February, the ACLU testified before the House Corporations committee in opposition to two bills sanctioning the use of automated license plate readers (ALPRs), which are scanners placed on police cruisers and used to scan every license plate on the street.

The ACLU of RI testified before the Senate and House Judiciary committees in support of legislation repealing the state’s voter ID law.

This legislation would have allowed the state of Rhode Island to produce and sell marijuana for recreational consumption, and authorized the state to set specific and enforceable limits on access to marijuana and funneling money from its sale to substance abuse treatment programs.