ACLU of Delaware Announces Legislative Priorities for 2021, Sends Letter to General Assembly Asking for Support
WILMINGTON — The ACLU of Delaware sent a briefing letter to members of the 151st General Assembly today, announcing the organization’s legislative priorities for 2021 and asking legislators to support the outlined efforts.
ACLU of Delaware’s policy advocate, Javonne Rich, said “The stakes are high for legislative action in 2021, and in any high-stakes session we must prioritize legislation that protects and expands civil liberties for all Delawareans, especially for some of our most vulnerable populations. We urge our legislators to prioritize education equity, protect our elections, and expand the progress we’ve made on Smart Justice reforms.”
The priorities outlined in the letter include:
- Reforming school funding;
- Creating an Education Ombudsperson Office;
- Ensuring compliance of the 2018 school discipline reform law;
- Passing the No-Excuse Absentee Voting Constitutional Amendment bill (HB 15);
- Passing the Same-Day Registration bill (HB 25);
- Passing permanent vote by mail legislation;
- Reforming fines and fees and ending automatic drivers’ license suspension;
- Expanding sentencing modification and early release options and removing all drug crimes from the violent felony list;
- Reforming our broken probation system;
- Ensuring police accountability and transparency;
- Passing a clean slate bill to automate the expungement and record sealing process; and
- Passing the Public Health Credit bill (HB 37).
The organization is hosting a public virtual briefing on their priority items Thursday, January 14 at 6 p.m., to be live-streamed on their Facebook page. More information on the event can be found here: https://www.aclu-de.org/en/events/2021-legislative-priorities-briefing
The full letter with more details on each priority item can be found online here: https://www.aclu-de.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2021_aclu_legislative_priorities_brief.pdf
This press release can be found online here: https://www.aclu-de.org/en/news/here-are-our-legislative-priorities-2021
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