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.
New York imposes millions of dollars per year in fees, surcharges, and mandatory minimum fines on criminal defendants, punishing poverty and misguidedly attempting to fund government services on the backs of Black and Brown New Yorkers who can least afford to pay.
Transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary New Yorkers deserve access to identity documents that reflect who they are and enable them to participate fully in society.
During the last legislative session, New York enacted critical legislation protecting the confidentiality of COVID-19-related contact tracing information.
New York must double down on eliminating barriers to vaccination, and it must ensure that immunity passports do not cut the most vulnerable off from participating in society.
Requires comprehensive sexuality instruction for students in grades K-12 which addresses age and developmentally appropriate physical, mental, emotional and social dimensions of human sexuality, and reflects the national sexuality education standards
The Gender Identity Respect, Dignity, and Safety Act would help keep TGNCNBI people safe by requiring that prisons and jails presumptively house people consistently with their gender identities, with a list of reasons that cannot be used as the basis for a denial; ensuring that staff at facilitie