Legislation

After the quiet expiration of the CCPRA, we supported legislation that would have both renewed the data collection provisions and annual report requirements and imposed more stringent requirements on the collection and analysis of the data.

In a move that would have further prevented parents and guardians from meaningfully engaging in their student’s schooling if the parent or guardian has a criminal record, this bill would have required a federal background check before any person could volunteer or intern at a school in RI.

As the passage of legislation legalizing recreational marijuana becomes more likely in Rhode Island, it is just as critical that expansive social justice measures accompany the legalization process. One such measure would be providing for the expungement of marijuana offenses from criminal records.

While ensuring a healthy workplace is a laudable goal, a piece of legislation rapidly passed by the Senate would have created a far-reaching “civility code” and imposed liability on employers or co-workers who were, among other things, “overbearing.”

We expressed concerns about a piece of legislation which would have required an “individual career and academic plan (ICAP)” for all Rhode Island students in grades six through twelve.

The ACLU once again supported legislation to rectify a disparity in voter representation and require all prisoners to be counted, for voting purposes only, at their last known address.

The Rhode Island Supreme Court has several times rejected the notion that students have a judicially enforceable right to an education; this bill would have ensured and constitutionally established this right as fundamental.

“Moral Turpitude” is a legally ambiguous and antiquated term that could be found in several professional licensing statutes as a basis on which to deny or revoke a person’s professional license. We testified in support of this legislation to eliminate the phrase from those statutes.

In an effort to protect the medical privacy of individual members on an insurance plan, this legislation will require that explanation of benefit documents be sent to the member that they concern, rather than the holder of the plan.