Richmond, VA -- The ACLU of Virginia today released its annual review of the Virginia legislative session. Civil Liberties Review: Virginia General Assembly 2012 describes over 100 bills introduced in the General Assembly that advance or diminish civil liberties in Virginia.
The bills are divided into 11 categories: First Amendment, Privacy Rights, Death Penalty, Equal Rights, Reproductive Rights, Immigrants’ Rights, Women’s Rights, Voting and Elections, Criminal Justice, Felon Disenfranchisement and Open Government. Unless special instructions are included, all bills that passed in the 2012 Session and were signed by the Governor became law on July 1.
“The 2012 session was one of the most difficult for civil liberties advocates,” said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Claire Guthrie Gastañaga. “Bills we were able to defeat in the past were enacted by a legislature increasingly hostile to civil rights. Lowlights include the setback dealt to voting rights with the new voter ID law, the establishment of a quasi-taxpayer funded school voucher system, and a law allowing taxpayer funded private adoption and foster care agencies to use religious or “moral” beliefs to discriminate against potential parents and children in the system based on individual characteristics such as age, religion, disability or sexual orientation. But the 2012 session will probably be most remembered for its erosion of reproductive freedom and the passage of the highly controversial mandatory ultrasound bill.”
“There is little to cheer about this year,” added Gastañaga. “Lawmakers did make a positive symbolic statement by passing a law opposing the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens. And, we were able to thwart efforts to pass additional anti-immigrant legislation, prohibit abortion at twenty weeks gestation, require drug testing of public assistance recipients, and prohibit protests at funerals.”
“Perhaps the most troubling aspect of this year’s session is that, because of Virginia’s highly partisan, incumbent-driven legislative redistricting process, 2012 was just the first difficult session in what will be a decade of difficult sessions for those of us who are advocates for expanding (not contracting) the right to vote, protecting Virginians against government intrusion in their most personal decisions, and securing basic free speech and due process rights for those whose causes or circumstances don’t usually garner broad public support,” Gastañaga concluded.
The 18-page Review is available online at https://www.acluva.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2012CivilLibertiesReviewFINALweb.pdf. A summary of some of the most important bills addressed during the session follows.
Contacts: Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, Executive Director Hope Amezquita, Legislative Counsel Office: 804-644-8022
Page numbers refer to Civil Liberties Review: Virginia General Assembly 2012
I. Civil Liberties Victories 2012
Passed bills that protect civil liberties
Failed bills that would have eroded civil liberties had they passed
II. Civil Liberties Defeats 2012
Passed bills that erode civil liberties
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