Archive

Now that AB 953 has been voted out of the California legislature, I wonder: what will Gov. Brown’s legacy on racial justice and fair policing be during this critical time in history? Read More

UPDATE! Gov. Brown has signed AB 302!It was my first week as a Fresno State student. I was ecstatic about stepping on campus and being a college student. But I knew the journey would be difficult, especially as a young mother.That first week, I walked into one of the campus restrooms and heard a noise I recognized—it was a breast pump. A classmate was sitting inside one of the toilet stalls pumpin... Read More

Beverly Tucker is a longtime supporter of the ACLU, serving on the board since September 2010 and previously from 1987 until 1990. We're honored to have Beverly's leadership expertise and deep knowledge of policy change in both the organizational and governmental spheres. Read More

Every year, the ACLU of California sponsors several bills in the California Legislature. What does it mean to “sponsor” a bill? In most cases, it means we have been involved in drafting the bill, providing input on the text. But we never work alone. Most of our bills are co-sponsored with other advocacy groups. The bill language is thus the result of a collaboration between the co-sponsors and the... Read More

Here in California, students have a fundamental right to equal education opportunity. And yet, one in five students doesn't graduate high school in four years. So we’ve launched www.MySchoolMyRights.com, a multi-media campaign intended to educate students on their rights and empower them to have a say in their education. Read More

In response to a lawsuit brought by the ACLU, the Sacramento Sheriff has now admitted that it used intrusive cellphone surveillance technology – commonly known as a “StingRay” – without obtaining court approval. Days after this stunning admission, the Sheriff publicly announced a new policy for the use of StingRay technology. While having an actual policy in place is certainly a step in the right ... Read More

In the midst of a national conversation about police transparency and accountability, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Law Offices of Amitai Schwartz filed a lawsuit today against the City of Hayward and its Police Department (Hayward PD) for charging the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) unlawful and excessive costs as the price of disclosing body worn camera footage r... Read More

Hi, my name is Ngan. I’m a tenth grader at Oakland Technical High School, and I’m a sex education activist.Tomorrow morning, I’ll be joining forces with other high schoolers from across California and meeting with Governor Jerry Brown’s staff in Sacramento to talk about sex ed.We’re coming to Sacramento armed with a petition signed by 5,000 people who all believe that California youth deserve accu... Read More

It was a really good week in California for privacy rights. The legislature passed the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA SB 178) with strong bipartisan support. The bill is now on Gov. Brown’s desk, and he needs to hear from all of us that it’s time to update privacy law for the modern digital world and sign CalECPA into law. Read More

In May and July of last year, the ACLU Foundations of California submitted requests under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department and the Anaheim Police Department, seeking documents related to the use of StingRays – highly invasive surveillance devices that allow law enforcement to track a suspect’s cell phone and, in the process, obtain a wide var... Read More