Where We Stand

CA AB 1441: Discrimination: State Programs and Activities
Relates to federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Adds sexual orientation to these provisions and define for these purposes sex and sexual orientation.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA AB 1778: Pupil Records: Release of Information
Requires a school district, that requires the parent or legal guardian of a high school pupil to provide current emergency information to the pupil's school of attendance, to include a notice in the emergency information request form that informs the parent, legal guardian, and pupil of his or her right under the No Child Left Behind Act to request that the name, address and telephone listing of the pupil not be released to military recruiters without his or her prior written consent.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA AB 1855: Elections: Voter Identification
Requires a voter to present proof of his or her identity to a member of the precinct board before receiving a ballot, and specifies 4 forms of currently valid identification that may be used for this purpose. Permits a voter who is unable to present proof of identity to cast a provisional ballot.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 1894: Department of Corrections: Mutual Aid Agreements
Requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to enter into an agreement with the United States Department of Homeland Security for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement to train Department of Corrections personnel to perform functions relating to the processing of inmates who are illegally within the United States.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2077: Income Taxes: Credit: Private School Tuition
Allows a credit in an amount equal to the cost paid or incurred by the taxpayer for tuition at any qualified school on behalf of any dependent of that taxpayer.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2192: Cal Works
Provides that, with certain exceptions, a person convicted of drug related felonies shall be eligible to receive CalWORKs benefits if he or she meets certain conditions of eligibility.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA AB 2238: Elections: Permanent Absentee Voters: Sex Offenders
Requires persons registered as sex offenders who subsequently register to vote to become permanent absentee voters. Prohibits them from voting on election day at any polling place located within 1/4 mile of any public or private school with one or more grades of kindergarten through 8th grade.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2253: Vehicles: Illegal Dumping
Authorizes a court to impound a vehicle used in the illegal dumping of waste matter, harmful waste matter upon a conviction of the person dumping the matter, if the person is the registered owner of the vehicle or owner's agent, and has one or more convictions for illegal dumping. Authorizes the court in a criminal action for such dumping to declare the vehicle used in the violation to be a nuisance and to order it sold, if the person has 2 or more previous convictions and other conditions are met.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2266: Death Penalty Moratorium
Reintroduced after AB 1121 failed to pass in January, this bill also places a moratorium on the carrying out of any executions. Provides that it shall become effective only when submitted to and approved by the voters.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA AB 2302: Evidence: Court Interpreters
Specifies that in any civil action or proceeding, an interpreter be present to interpret the proceedings. Requires a court to provide such interpreter, unless a party has notified the court that he or she has made arrangements for a private interpreter.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA AB 2311: Education
Prohibits the promotion of homosexuality in public education.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2383: Inmate HIV Testing
Requires HIV testing for all inmates entering a correctional facility for incarceration for a period of at least one year, for persons entering a state prison or a state hospital housing patients committed pursuant to existing provisions of law.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2472: Public Postsecondary Education: Tuition and Fees
Original bill eliminated the one year limitation on resident classification for graduate students.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2508: Illegal Immigration: Public Benefits
Enacts legislation that provides that persons who reside illegally are not entitled to the same benefits and privileges as persons who reside legally in this state.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2512: Fetal Pain Prevention
Enacts the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2006. Requires the physician performing an abortion to offer to the pregnant woman information and counseling on fetal pain. Requires the Medical Board to adopt regulations for revocation or suspension of medical licenses for violation of these provisions.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2561: Privacy Protection: Personal Identification Documents
Establishes in the Office of Privacy Protection the Commission on Security and Privacy for Identification Credentials for the purpose of establishing best practices regarding security and privacy to guide state agencies in the creation or issuance of any personal identification document, including machine readable documents.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2581: Postsecondary Education: Student Conduct
Relates to rules subjecting a student to disciplinary sanction solely on the basis of conduct that is speech or other communication that is protected from governmental restriction by specified provisions of the Constitution. Prohibits this provision from being construed to authorize any prior restraint of the student press.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA AB 2603: Discrimination: Sex Offenders
States the intent of the Legislature to address the needs of property owners and tenants for safe rental housing in a manner that is consistent with the goals and purposes of the Megan's Law sex offender registration requirement and state law on civil rights.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2680: Tax Deductions: Wages to Illegal Aliens
Relates to the Personal Tax and the Corporation Tax Law. Denies a deduction under both laws for the wages paid during the taxable year to, or on behalf of, an unauthorized alien.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2704: Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives
Establishes the Office of Faith based and Community Initiatives within the Office of the Governor. Requires the Office to serve as a clearinghouse of information on federal, State, and local funding for charitable services performed by charitable organizations.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2707: Crime: Picketing
Makes it a crime, punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both, for a person to engage in picketing targeted at a funeral, during the time period beginning one hour prior to the funeral and ending one hour after the conclusion of the funeral. Authorizes a court to award damages, including punitive damages, injunctive relief, attorney's fees and any appropriate relief against a person who violates these provisions.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2800: Housing: Discrimination
Amends provisions that prohibit discrimination in housing and specified housing related areas to instead prohibit discrimination on the same bases as in the Fair Employment and Housing Act.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA AB 2818: Maternal Use of Narcotics: Testing
Requires the Department of Health Services, in consultation with the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, to conduct a pilot program that would randomly select 12 health facilities to conduct random tests of mothers and their infants at birth to determine the prevalence of illegal narcotics use by expectant mothers.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2891: Prohibited Instruction: Pupil Surveys
Existing law that prohibits a test, questionnaire, survey or examination regarding the beliefs or practices of the pupil or the parents or guardians of the pupil related to sex, family life, morality, and religion, from being administered to any pupil in kindergarten or grades 1 to 12 unless the parent or guardian of the pupil is notified in writing that this test or examination is to be administered and the parent or guardian gives written permission.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 2976: Child Abuse: Reporting
Creates the Child Sexual Abuse, Exploitation and Rape Reporting and Deterrence Act, requiring all licensed medical personnel to report, within 24 hours of receiving reportable information, to a law enforcement or child protective agency their knowledge or reasonable suspicion that a minor has contracted a sexually transmitted disease or is pregnant.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA AB 583: Political Reform Act of 1974
Enacts the Clean Money and Fair Elections Act of 2006 that authorizes eligible candidates to obtain public funds according to procedures and requirements, provided certain thresholds are attained. Creates the Clean Money Fund for appropriation to the Fair Political Practices Commission for the public financing provisions. Adds contribution limits to a candidate for statewide elective office not participating in the program.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA AB 606: Safe Schools: Discrimination and Harassment
Requires a school district to establish and publicize an antidiscrimination and anti-harassment policy that prohibits discrimination and harassment based on specified characteristics, including, but not limited to, actual or perceived gender identity and sexual orientation. Requires a district to take specified actions to increase the awareness of, prevent, and ensure appropriate responses to incidents of discrimination and harassment based on those protected characteristics.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA AB 651: California Compassionate Choices Act
Enacts the California Compassionate Choices Act. Authorizes an adult who meets certain qualifications, and who has been determined by his or her attending physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, to make a request for medication for the purpose of ending his or her life in a humane and dignified manner.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA AJR 31: Voting Rights Act of 1965
Memorializes the Congress and President of the United States to extend the provisions of Voting Rights Act of 1965 that are set to expire in the year 2007.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA SB 1078: Pupil Attendance: Electronic Monitoring
Prohibits a public school, school district, and county offices of education from issuing any device to a pupil that uses radio waves to transmit personal information or to enable personal information to be viewed remotely for the purposes of recording the attendance of a pupil at school, establishing or tracking the location of a pupil on school grounds, or both.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA SB 1119: Reprieves, Pardons and Commutations of Sentence
Relates to competency standards for appointed counsel for clemency proceedings, compensation for counsel during such proceedings, appointment of counsel to represent indigent defendants sentenced to death in clemency proceedings, the providing of a summarized statement of facts to the Governor and Board of Parole Hearings for pardon or clemency proceedings, the issuance of subpoenas and any tangible item for reprieve, pardon, or commutation hearings, and a clemency hearing for inmates sentenced to death.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA SB 1128: Sex Offenders
The Democrats alternative to Jessica’s Law (Proposition 83 on November ballot). Makes numerous changes to sex offender laws including changes to the sexually violent predator statutes and increases various penalties. Also provides money for treatment programs
ACLU-NC Position: Raised concerns/opposition to certain provisions

CA SB 1160: Vehicles: Driver's License
Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles, in the issuance of driver's license and identification cards, to issue licenses and cards that are in compliance with specified requirements of the federal Real ID Act of 2005, as certified by the Secretary of Homeland Security. Requires the Department to issue licenses that permit driving, and are not acceptable for federal identification to applicants who do not provide valid documentary evidence of lawful status.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA SB 1194: State Employees: Hiring Practices
Requires the Department of Personnel Administration to verify every state employee's legal status or authorization to work in the United States prior to the hiring of that employee in accordance with the Basic Pilot Program.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA SB 1257: Appeals: Capital Cases
Requires the expeditious handling of appeals in capital cases. Requires appellate counsel to be appointed for the defendant within one year of the specified date and for the record on appeal to be certified and transmitted to the Supreme Court within one year after appellate counsel is appointed. Requires the appellant's opening brief to be filed within one year after the record is transmitted to the court. Requires the attorneys who accept appointments before district courts of appeal to be available.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA SB 1280: Incapacitated Persons
Prohibits a guardian, a conservator, or the court from authorizing the withholding of food and water from a ward or conservatee, or an adult without a conservator, unless there is clear and convincing evidence that either withholding nutrition and hydration is in accordance with the instructions or wishes of the person or that the person cannot absorb nutrition or hydration so as to sustain his or her life.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA SB 1405: Medi Cal: Healthy Families: Interpreter Services
Makes certain findings regarding the portion of the California population that is limited English proficient (LEP). Establishes the Task Force on Reimbursement for Language Services to develop and adopt a mechanism for seeking federal matching funds to pay for language assistance services, including oral interpretation services and translation of written materials, for the population that is LEP and that is enrolled in the Medi Cal program or the Healthy Families Program.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA SB 1444: Prisoners: Foreign Nationals
Requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to deliver a foreign national to the United States Immigration and Nationalization Service if his or her country of nationality is a party to the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons or the Inter American Convention on Serving Criminal Sentences Abroad and the foreign national is subject to transfer under the convention
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose unless amended

CA SB 1471: Sex Education Programs: Requirements
Require community-based organizations that provide sexually transmitted disease prevention education or sexual health education to provide medically accurate, bias-free, and age appropriate information.
ACLU-NC Position: Sponsor/Support

CA SB 1487: Coerced Abortion
Prohibits a physician and surgeon from performing an abortion unless he or she has obtained the written assurance from the patient that she understands that she may not be coerced into having an abortion, and that her decision to have an abortion is voluntary.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA SB 1521: Prisons: Media Access
Reintroduced for 7th time in last 10 years, the bill requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, upon reasonable notice, to permit representatives of the news media to interview prisoners in person.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA SB 1544: Criminal Investigations: Eyewitness Identification
Will require law enforcement to adopt policies and procedures regulating eyewitness lineup identifications so as to ensure decreases in the number of misidentifications. Includes where practicable, that the administrator not know who the suspect is, provides specific instructions to the witness, and presents members of the lineup in a sequence.
ACLU-NC Position: Support/Sponsor

CA SB 160: Student Financial Aid: Eligibility
Enacts the California Dream Act that requires the Trustees of the California State University and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and requests the Regents of the University of California to establish procedures and forms that enable persons who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition or who meet equivalent requirements adopted by the regents, to apply for, and participate in, all student aid program administered by these segments to the full extent permitted under law.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA SB 1664: Sentencing: Enhancements: Repeat Illegal Aliens
Amends existing law which provides for enhanced sentences when a person has certain specified prior convictions by providing for a an additional ten year term of imprisonment for a person previously convicted of a felony offense for which he or she was deported.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA SB 1682: Elections: Voting Identification
Requires a voter to present proof of his or her identify and residency to a member of the precinct board before receiving a ballot. Specifies the documents that may be used for this purpose and would authorize any other form of identification that the Secretary of State determines to be appropriate.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA SB 1696: National Guard: Public Peace
Provides that, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or act of the Legislature, any person who willfully uses any part of the National Guard as a posse comitatus or otherwise for civilian law enforcement purposes, including surveillance, would be fined not more than $250,000 or imprisoned in the state prison, or both.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA SB 171: Interrogation: Recording
A holdover from last year, this bill requires the electronic recording of interrogations of persons accused of violent felonies when in police custody. The legislation, sponsored by the ACLU and authored by Senator Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose), will help decrease the likelihood of false confession, thereby protecting the innocent while providing the best evidence against the guilty.
ACLU-NC Position: Support/Sponsor

CA SB 1745: Employment Discrimination
As recently amended in the Assembly, provides protections against discrimination in employment for a victim of an act of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
ACLU-NC Position: Support/Co-sponsor

CA SB 1767: Local Law Enforcement and Immigration Laws
Requires that if the Attorney General determines that local government agencies or law enforcement agencies are not cooperating with the federal immigration officials to report that determination to the Legislature for its consideration of denying state aid to that entity.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

CA SB 1827: Taxation: Domestic Partners
Amends the Personal Income Tax Law. Allows registered domestic partners to file joint or separate state tax returns
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA SB 433: Department of Motor Vehicles: Personal Information
Prohibits the Department of Motor Vehicles from issuing, renewing, duplicating, or replacing a driver's license or identification card, if the license or card uses radio waves to either transmit personal information remotely or to enable personal information to be read from the license or card remotely.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA SB 540: Tenancy: Signs and Flags
Prohibits a landlord from prohibiting a tenant from posting or displaying campaign signs related to an election, including an election for a candidate for public office or to the initiative, referendum or recall process
ACLU-NC Position: Neutral

CA SB 682: Identity Information Protection Act of 2005
Enacts the Identity Information Protection Act of 2005. Requires identification documents containing medical, psychiatric or psychological information that are created or issued by various public entities and that use radio waves to broadcast personal information or to enable personal information to be read remotely to meet specified requirements. Provides exceptions and criminal penalties for a person or entity that intentionally remotely reads or attempts to read such information without permission.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA SB 699: AIDS And HIV Reporting
Requires health care providers and laboratories to report cases of HIV infection to the local health officer using patient names. Requires county HIV test to be available on an anonymous basis. Provides civil penalties for negligent disclosure of a public health record.
ACLU-NC Position: Neutral

CA SB 768: Identity Information Protection Act
Enacts the Identity Information Protection Act of 2005. Requires identification documents that are created or issued by various public entities that use radio waves to broadcast personal information, or to enable personal information to be read remotely, to meet specified requirements. Provides that the intentional remote reading or attempting to remotely read such documents using radio waves without permission is punishable by specified criminal penalties.
ACLU-NC Position: Support

CA SB 803/SB 1137: Ongoing Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act
Requires any person convicted of a non violent drug possession offense to receive probation. Requires drug testing and court monitoring as a condition of probation. Exempts a defendant who has been convicted of one or more serious or violent felonies, unless the drug possession offense occurred during a certain timeframe. Provides provisions do not apply to defendant who unlawfully possesses certain substances while using a firearm. Authorizes a defendant to petition the for dismissal of charge.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose

REAL ID
The legislative office has participated in various legislative hearings highlighting the civil liberties concerns regarding the implementation in California of the federal Real ID Act, a measure passed in 2005 that would create a federal identity document that every American would need in order to fly on commercial airlines, enter government buildings, open a bank account, and to engage in countless other transactions. The May revision of the Governor’s budget for 2006-07 and subsequent Finance Letters are nearly certain to contain funding for this implementation, due in 2008. Subsequent budget hearings --in late May and early June-- provided an opportunity for public testimony.
ACLU-NC Position:

SCA 32: California Missions: Preservation
Relates to mission preservation. Specifies that an appropriation, payment, or grant from a public fund or donation of personal or real property authorized by its provisions is not the establishment, promotion, or preference of or for religion for purposes of the Constitution.
ACLU-NC Position: Oppose