News & Commentary

Following review of testimony last week before the House Finance Committee, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today raised privacy concerns regarding the lack of information surrounding the technology that will be used to implement the proposed legislation establishing tolls on tractor-trailers traveling through the state. The ACLU urged Rhode Island lawmakers to ensure drivers’ privacy is protected in the law.

In a major step towards reducing the criminalization of the poor in Rhode Island, the City of Providence has advised the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island that it would halt enforcement of an anti-panhandling ordinance that has led to the harassment and arrest of homeless individuals. The ACLU had called for this action in a letter delivered to Mayor Jorge Elorza two weeks ago, in which it pointed out the ordinance's dubious constitutionality and its impact on the rights of the poor and the homeless.

Public meeting agendas in Rhode Island are “often vague, lacking critical information, and at times entirely unhelpful” to residents attempting to participate in their government, a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has found. In reviewing just one week of public meeting agendas, the ACLU of RI discovered numerous violations of a critical portion of the state’s Open Meetings Act (OMA), and recommended that the law be strengthened in order to adequately protect the public’s right to know.

The ACLU of Rhode Island issued the following statement on the passage of Good Samaritan Legislation by the Rhode Island House:

For the second time in three months, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has filed a complaint of sex discrimination against the Harmony Fire District for terminating a female employee who had raised concerns that male and female firefighters were being treated differently. The ACLU filed this latest charge with the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Linda Ferragamo, an EMT/firefighter at the department for more than a decade.

The Rhode Island Medical Society, Protect Families First, and the ACLU of Rhode Island issued the following statement on the passage of Good Samaritan Legislation by the Rhode Island Senate:

The City of Providence can no longer stop musician Manuel Pombo (left) from performing or soliciting donations on city streets as part of a settlement reached today in a First Amendment lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, the NAACP Providence Branch, the George Wiley Center, the American Friends Service Committee – South East New England, and Providence Student Union today filed an open records request with the Rhode Island State Police requesting the full report of its investigation, conducted in conjunction with the Pawtucket Police Department, into the actions of a school resource officer who was recorded body-slamming a 14-year-old student at Pawtucket’s Tolman High School on October 14 (VIDEO). The groups are also seeking the evidence gathered in the investigation, as well as documents related to any review of the pepper-spraying by Pawtucket Police of students protesting on the day following the incident.

2015 brought many challenges to civil liberties, but thanks to our dedicated supporters and volunteers, we faced them head on and helped protect the rights of all Rhode Islanders. Learn more about our work this past year and help keep us strong as we prepare for 2016.