News & Commentary

Claiming that the RI Vehicle Value Commission “has taken the easy way out, adopting a formula that is as simple to administer as it is unfair to motor vehicle owners,” the RI ACLU has submitted written testimony to the Commission, in advance of a public hearing scheduled for later this month, calling on the agency to adopt a fairer methodology for establishing the “presumptive value” by which cars are assessed for tax purposes. The assessment process has taken on particular significance in light of a recent state law change that has substantially increased both the size of the car tax that can be imposed and the number of previously-exempt cars that are now subject to the tax.

The RI ACLU has urged the Providence City Council to reject a proposal by Mayor Angel Taveras to authorize a private company to use car-mounted license-plate scanners to enforce overnight parking laws. The proposal, part of the Mayor’s plan for a permanent overnight parking permit program, would authorize a private vendor to use specially-equipped vehicles to automatically scan license plates, checking them against a registration database and flagging those cars parked overnight without a permit.

The RI ACLU has urged the Warwick City Council to reject passage of a resolution, scheduled for a vote next Wednesday, to ban the display of signs or posters at City Council meetings. The proposal follows a lengthy and somewhat raucous Council meeting last month attended by hundreds of residents concerned about an increase in the motor vehicle excise tax for city residents.

The Rhode Island ACLU today issued a report calling Rhode Island’s new civil union law, enacted over the strong protests of the community it was designed to benefit, “a fiasco” that highlights the need for passage of true marriage equality legislation. The report states that “it is difficult to think of another ‘civil rights’ bill that has generated so much attention, yet done so little for so few.”

The RI ACLU issued the following statement today in response to suggestions that the General Assembly pass a law requiring a state criminal background check for all candidates who are certified by the state Board of Elections to run for office in Rhode Island:

The Rhode Island ACLU has filed a brief asking a federal judge to issue a permanent injunction requiring the City of Cranston to remove from public display a “School Prayer” mural addressed to “Our Heavenly Father” that is painted on a Cranston High School West auditorium wall. The brief was filed by RI ACLU volunteer attorneys Lynette Labinger and Thomas Bender in preparation for a court hearing on October 13th in the ACLU lawsuit, which had been filed in April. The suit is on behalf of Jessica Ahlquist, a sophomore at the school who, the brief notes, has been the subject of “personal attacks and intimidation” from students and others in the community ever since publicly opposing the display.

The Rhode Island ACLU today issued a report examining some of the civil liberties battles that have taken place specifically in Rhode Island in the past decade in response to the government’s “war on terrorism.” Noting that the tenth anniversary of 9/11 offers a time for reflection on the “devastating and horrific loss of life that occurred that day,” the report adds that it also presents an opportunity to reflect on the government’s response and, how “all too often, it has acted in ways inimical to basic civil liberties.”

The RI ACLU has today filed suit against the RI Department of Public Safety (DPS), arguing that the agency failed to provide the public an appropriate opportunity to comment on controversial regulations establishing its policies for public access to DPS records. The suit, filed in R.I. Superior Court by RI ACLU volunteer attorney Jennifer Azevedo, argues that the DPS violated a state law known as the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), which is designed to ensure that state executive agencies go through a public rule-making process in adopting policies governing their conduct.

Less than nine months after adopting regulations restricting the public’s access to arrest reports, the RI Department of Public Safety (DPS) is proposing to hide even more of those records from public view. In preparation for a public hearing scheduled for next Tuesday, the RI ACLU has filed written testimony urging that the proposal be withdrawn.