SACRAMENTO, Calif. (June 1, 2016) – Yesterday, the California Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill that would set the foundation to nullify in practice some Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules that deny access to experimental treatments by terminally ill patients. A massive bipartisan coalition of 29 Assembly members introduced Assembly Bill 1668 (AB1668) on Jan.…
ALBANY, N.Y. (June 1, 2016) – A bill introduced in the New York Assembly to put strict limitations on the use of automated license plate reader systems (ALPRs) by the state was drastically altered in committee. The new version of the bill only applies restrictions to private individuals. Introduced by Asm. Jeffrey Dinowitz on Feb. 13,…
BOSTON, Mass. (May 31, 2016) – Last week, a Massachusetts joint committee passed an agriculture bill that would expand raw milk sales in the state. Passage of the bill into law would facilitate the process of nullifying the federal prohibition scheme in practice. The Senate Ways and Means Committee created Senate Bill 2286 (S.2286) to…
What is Originalism? That’s the question Brion McClanahan explores in Episode Ten of his podcast. LISTEN HERE: Originalism is the idea that you interpret the Constitution the way the proponents of the document said it would be interpreted when it was going through ratification in 1787 and 1788. McClanahan makes the case that this is the only…
LOS ANGELES (May 30, 2016) – Dedicated activists in Los Angeles forced the end to federal militarization of law enforcement on a hyper-local level, demonstrating the power of a bottom up approach when confronting federal power. After 18 months of pressure and activism, the Labor/Community Strategy Center reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Unified…
COLUMBUS, Ohio (May 30, 2016) – Last week, the Ohio House passed a bill that would reform asset forfeiture laws to prohibit the state from taking property without a criminal conviction in the majority of cases. The legislation also takes on federal forfeiture programs by banning prosecutors from circumventing state laws by passing cases off…
In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I share a personal story that demonstrates the very real impact of the surveillance state on everyday behavior. Since the Edward Snowden revelations, Americans have become much more aware of the ever-growing surveillance state. But they don’t really seem to care. Many believe they have nothing to…
One thing Californians agree on is their opposition to laws that allow law enforcement to seize and keep people’s cash and property merely for being suspects of a crime, also known as asset forfeiture (learn more here). That’s according to a two new surveys by the Public Policy Polling. The surveys found “overwhelming statewide and…
Because of the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, anyone accused of a crime is entitled to a trial by jury. To whit: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to…a public trial, by an impartial jury of the…district wherein the crime shall have been committed.” Nowadays, that right is denied to 98%…
BOSTON, Mass. (May 27, 2016) – A Massachusetts House committee has passed a bill that would put limitations on the storage and sharing of information collected by law enforcement agencies using Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in the state, and place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal program using states to help track the…