Legislative advocacy is a critical part of the NYCLU's interdisciplinary approach to protecting civil liberties, which also includes litigation, community organizing, and communications.
As part of its work to affect legislation the NYCLU distributes dozens of legislative memoranda each year. Legislative memoranda are position papers that the NYCLU distributes to the governor's office and to state legislators and their staffs laying out our views on bills under deliberation or on issues that we feel the Legislature needs to address.
We all share the fervent desire to safely re-open our state, and for many, there may be a temptation to turn to invasive technologies – from temperature screening devices to contact tracing apps – that promise to stem the virus’ spread while permitting us to return to our normal routines.
Contact tracing will only be effective if individuals who are diagnosed with COVID-19 are willing to share their contacts and if their contacts are willing to act on the information the contact tracers provide. Both sides of this transaction require community trust. S. 8829 (Martinez)/A.
Every pregnant individual has a right to be treated with dignity and to have the necessary resources and supports that enable them to truly exercise agency in their reproductive decision making. However, the reproductive rights and wellbeing of pregnant inmates are dangerously disregarded.
Chapter 834 of the Laws of 1940 allow police leadership to exercise complete control over all misconduct and disciplinary proceedings against officers, and prevent these proceedings from occurring anywhere other than a police department’s own trial room.
SLAPPs are frivolous lawsuits intended to punish First Amendment-protected speech. New York has laws that allow courts to quickly dismiss SLAPPs, but it’s narrow and out-of-date, applying only in the context of government permitting and licensing.
Contact tracing is a key public health strategy. For contact tracing to work, the public must have complete faith that their personal information will remain private and confidential and that it will not be misused or shared inappropriately.