Legislation

After a great deal of political maneuvering, the General Assembly passed a package of bills aimed at improving the criminal justice system.

In February the ACLU and the Urban Justice Center testified on a bill that has some laudable provisions designed to address the scourge of human trafficking, but that also had a number of problematic provisions.

In February, the ACLU testified in front of the House Judiciary committee stating that treating crimes against police officers as hate crimes devalues the discrimination that truly marginalized communities such as members of the LGBTQ community and people of color have faced for decades.

In June, the ACLU testified in the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of legislation which sought to expand that law by prohibiting shackling pregnant women in their third trimester while they were being transported to or from a court proceeding.

Women have historically been charged more for the same health insurance as men, solely because of their gender, leaving women less able to purchase vital health care coverage.

The ACLU joined with the Public Defender and the RI Coalition for the Homeless to support legislation requiring municipal courts to provide free attorneys to indigent defendants charged with ordinance violations that could result in imprisonment.

Based on new federal regulations, legislation was introduced which would establish a formal process for the incarceration of an individual to be taken into consideration for the purposes of modifying child support orders.

The ACLU testified that under this legislation, one single act online that is then used by others to justify harassment would be criminal, holding individuals accountable for the actions of others even if they meant no harm with their original post.

In March and May, the ACLU testified before the House and Senate Judiciary committees, respectively, in support of legislation permitting the issuance of driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.