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SACRAMENTO – Just days after being sworn in as California’s 40th governor, Gavin Newsom unveiled his proposed budget today for the 2019-20 Fiscal Year, including a $124.9 million investment to expand preschool education to all low-income four-year-olds over the next three years. In response, Sylvia Torres-Guillén, the ACLU of California's Director of Education Equity, issued the following state... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO — Today, a bail-bond-industry-funded campaign turned in signatures in an effort to qualify a referendum for the November 2020 ballot asking voters to overturn Senate Bill 10, the recent bail reform legislation that would end commercial bail in California.  In response, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California Executive Director Abdi Soltani issued the following statem... Read More

UPDATE, Nov. 28, 2018: The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed an amended complaint with the Office for Civil Rights. The stories of five more students were added as well as information from current and past district staff. The additional information shows that Visalia Unified is creating a hostile environment for Black students as early as elementary school.  SAN FRANCISCO — The ACLU ... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO – The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, and the law firm Durie Tangri LLP, filed a lawsuit against the City of San Francisco for its police department’s racially discriminatory enforcement practices. In violation of the Constitution, the SFPD, which has a long and sordid history of racial discrimination, targeted Black people for arrest becau... Read More

SACRAMENTO – Today, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1421 (Skinner) and Assembly Bill 748 (Ting), historic police reform legislation sponsored by the ACLU of California. Peter Bibring, Director of Police Practices for the ACLU of California, responded with the following statement: We, as a society, confer on law enforcement the unparalleled powers to stop, arrest and use force on peop... Read More

OAKLAND — The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, in partnership with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, East Bay Community Law Center, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and King & Spalding LLP, today filed a complaint in United States District Court, Northern District of California, challenging the constitutionality of the Oakland Public Housing loite... Read More

The Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School District’s (KTJUSD) School Board meets this Tuesday (Sept. 11) to vote on their 2018-19 amended Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). On June 25, 2018 the ACLU Foundation of California, the Yurok Tribal Council, and the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council sent a letter to Superintendent Jon Ray of KTJUSD to address compliance issues with the Local Control Fu... Read More

SACRAMENTO — Today, the California Assembly approved legislation that will help prevent wrongful convictions. Senate Bill 923, introduced by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), will ensure that law enforcement agencies throughout the state adhere to evidence-based standards that protect against mistaken eyewitness identifications. Kathy Sher, Legislative Advocate for the ACLU of California,... Read More

SACRAMENTO – Today, the California Assembly voted to approve Senate Bill 1421. Introduced by Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the historic legislation will make public information about officers who shoot, kill, or engage in serious misconduct like falsifying evidence or committing sexual assault while on the job. “Today’s vote marks a tremendous victory in the fight for police accountabilit... Read More

SACRAMENTO – Last night, a bill that would have changed the standard for when California police can use deadly force was held in the Legislature. Assembly Bill 931, introduced by Assemblymembers Weber (D-San Diego) and McCarty (D-Sacramento), would have established that police officers cannot use deadly force when they have other reasonable alternatives. In response, Alliance for Boys and Men o... Read More

SACRAMENTO – Today, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed into law Senate Bill 10, the California Bail Reform Act.  The following statement can be jointly attributed to the three Executive Directors of the California ACLU affiliates: Abdi Soltani (Northern California), Hector Villagra (Southern California), and Norma Chávez Peterson (San Diego & Imperial Counties): We are disappoint... Read More

SACRAMENTO – Today, the Executive Directors of the ACLU California affiliates announced a change to the ACLU’s position on Senate Bill 10, the California Bail Reform Act.  The following statement can be jointly attributed to the three Executive Directors of the California ACLU affiliates: Abdi Soltani (Northern California), Hector Villagra (Southern California), and Norma Chávez Peterson (San D... Read More