Listed below are a few other bills of civil liberties interest, most of them reviewed in prior newsletters, that did not make it out of the General Assembly this session:
PRO-CIVIL LIBERTIES BILLS
- A resolution placing the General Assembly on record as opposing various provisions of the USA Patriot Act that are violative of civil liberties.
- A Public Defender bill establishing more accurate procedures for eyewitness identifications in criminal cases.
- Bills authorizing same-sex marriage. (Did not make it out of the General Assembly this session.)
- A bill amending the “unauthorized practice of law” statute to allow attorneys to share attorneys fees with non-profit organizations.
- A trio of pro-immigrant bills that restricted local police from enforcing federal immigration law; authorized the issuance of drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants who provide appropriate identification documents; and required public universities to allow the matriculation of students regardless of their immigration status.
ANTI-CIVIL LIBERTIES BILLS
- A bill providing tax breaks to people who made donations to a scholarship organization for students attending parochial schools.
- Bills banning gay marriage.
- Anti-abortion bills establishing onerous “informed consent” requirements, and making it an independent criminal offense to harm a pregnant woman’s fetus.
- A bill generally prohibiting lawsuits against food manufacturers and businesses for health-related claims relating to consumption of their food.
- A bill creating a partisan, wide-ranging commission with subpoena powers to examine “integrity in government.”
- A bill allowing state agencies to issue statutorily-required annual reports solely in electronic form.
