Every year, the ACLU of RI lobbies on hundreds of bills during Rhode Island's annual Legislative Session. Below are some of the bills we have tracked and testified on before the General Assembly. For more info on advocating for the issues you care about, check out our Advocacy 101 Guide. To see how your Reps and Senators voted on various bills over the past few years, visit our Legislative Scorecards page.
We opposed a bill which would completely remove the statute of limitations that currently exists for alleged tax deficiencies, and allow tax officials to charge individuals with filing incomplete tax returns decades after the fact.
In supporting a bill which would seek to address the barriers that justice-involved individuals often face in finding housing, we urged amendments to better ensure that the goal of the legislation is met.
Two pieces of legislation would address the presence of SROs and the need for mental health personnel on school campuses – one positively, and one negatively.
We strongly supported legislation which would require fiscal impact analyses for any bills which increase or put in place criminal sentences.
This important legislation would provide individuals protection from prosecution for certain drug crimes if they had contacted police to address any medical emergency, not just a drug overdose.
As a state with one of the most protective Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights statutes in the country – imposing numerous barriers to disciplining wayward officers – it is long past time for significant revisions to be made to this law.