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Our Priority Issues for the 2007 Legislative Session
Prior
to each session of the General Assembly, the ACLU-CT Board of Directors
endorses a set of legislative priorities which includes initiatives that would
expand the rights of Connecticut citizens. We also attempt to anticipate
proposals that we would oppose on constitutional grounds. This session has
already proven to be particularly active on civil liberties issues. Below you
will find an outline of our initial legislative agenda for the 2007 session. In
addition to the proposals on this list, we are currently monitoring hundreds of
additional bills covering more than a dozen issue areas.
ACLU will SUPPORT:
- Eliminating
the mandatory minimum drug sentences
and enhanced penalties related to school
zones.
- Prohibiting the use of attack dogs for “cell
extractions” in state prisons.
- Adjudicating 16 and 17 year olds as
juveniles.
- Innocence
Project legislation and/or implementation of Death Penalty Commission recommendations that comport with ACLU
policy.
- Increasing
the age difference between a minor and a consensual partner where sexual
activity is considered statutory rape.
- Additional
changes to campaign finance reform
law as prescribed by ACLU-CT policy.
- Adding
“gender identity and expression” to
the state’s anti-discrimination statutes.
- Marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples.
- Requiring
all Connecticut Hospitals to offer and dispense Emergency Contraception to rape victims.
- Election Day voter registration.
- Provisional
ballot system for state elections.
- Legalization of medical marijuana.
- Elimination
of enhanced penalties for possession and/or sale of drugs in a “school zone.”
- Compelling
police to record confessions.
- Standardizing
Taser training and policies.
- Preservation
of the Affordable Housing Appeals Act.
ACLU will OPPOSE:
- Banning
billboard advertisement by adult
businesses.
- Implementation
of the Real ID Act of 2005.
- Relaxing
requirements on written consent to HIV
testing and mandatory pre- and post-test counseling.
- Allowing
municipalities to use traffic light
cameras.
- Requiring
minors to receive parental consent for
abortions.
- Investigative subpoena power State’s Attorneys.
- DPS tracking and civil commitment of sex offenders.
- Quotas
on the number of disabled residents
allowed to live in senior housing and/or their segregation within these
facilities.
ACLU
will MONITOR:
- Legislation exempting access to the records of state
agencies under FOIA statutes.
- Legislation expanding public access to court
records and procedures.
- Legislation proposing changes to sex offender
statutes.
- Legislation expanding and/or restricting the rights
of undocumented residents.
- Legislation to increase the production of affordable
housing.
For more
information on the ACLU of Connecticut 2007 legislative agenda, please contact
us at 860-247-9823.
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