News & Commentary

This week is another busy one at the General Assembly with about a month of the session left. Here is a summary of some of the bills affecting civil liberties that are being considered in committee or on the floor this week, but note that more may be added to the calendars in the next day:

Lately, we’ve been getting a lot of calls about both red light cameras and speed cameras.*  One thing is clear: drivers are pretty angry. If you aren’t mad about them, you probably should be:

If we’ve learned anything over the years it should be that bills cobbled together and rushed through for passage NEVER seem to have anything good come of them.  But alas, this scenario played out yesterday when the House of Representatives voted – with bipartisan support no less, including Rhode Island’s own Congressman Jim Langevin – to potentially expand the government’s ability to spy on us. 

Here’s a look at the top issues – including some big victories and losses – of 2017:

In a rebuff to Big Brother on the highways, the RI Department of Transportation (DOT) has adopted new regulations designed to protect the privacy of motorists when the state’s new truck toll gantry system takes effect. The regulations, filed this week with the Secretary of State, came about after an earlier version of the DOT’s tolling regulations contained no privacy protections whatsoever, prompting criticism from the ACLU and other privacy advocates. The ACLU of Rhode Island today commended the DOT for responding to that criticism and taking strong action to protect motorists’ privacy.

The RI Department of Transportation (DOT) is holding a public hearing tomorrow afternoon on proposed regulations addressing the imminent installation of toll gantries for the state’s new truck toll program – but the proposal contains no provisions addressing critical privacy issues raised by the system.

ACLU of RI executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement in response to Governor Raimondo's signing of a bill yesterday giving law enforcement access to the Department of Health's prescription database without a warrant:

UPDATE: Despite the strong opposition to the legislation, the Governor signed it into law.  Read our statement here.

ACLU of RI executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement in response to the request from the “President’s Commission on Election Integrity” for detailed information from the Secretary of State about every voter: “The ACLU of Rhode Island is deeply concerned about the Presidential Commission’s request for detailed information on every registered voter in the country. There can be little question that this Commission has a preordained agenda aimed at promoting voter suppression. “Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea has pledged that she will not release to the Commission any information beyond what is already available to the public under Rhode Island law. We are confident that she will safeguard from disclosure any other personal information of the state’s voters that the Commission has requested. We will be prepared to assist in challenging any Commission efforts to obtain that additional information.”