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.
People with mental illness are more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators of it. But Governor Hochul's proposals presume that people living with mental illness are criminals. That presumption is both morally and factually wrong.
The Welfare Management System—the computer system that determines access to food stamps, Medicaid, and many other programs and emergency services—accepts only two gender markers: an M or an F.
Utility data – such as electrical and gas consumption – can reveal highly sensitive information from people’s homes. Without proper safeguards in place to prevent misuse of this information, utility data can easily become an attractive target for undirected law enforcement fishing expeditions. Th
On June 15, 2020, a new law came into effect that removes hurdles that minors previously faced in accessing post-HIV exposure prophylaxis (PEP) following sexual assault. This memo will summarize the new framework governing access to PEP.
Unfortunately, large hospital systems sometimes remove categories of care from local hospitals, leaving patients in regions of the state without access to types of care, including some types of emergency care.
Pregnant people in New York State are often subjected to medically unnecessary drug and alcohol testing by their health care providers without their knowledge or consent. Indeed, testing deters some pregnant people from seeking vital pre- and perinatal medical care.