ACLU-VT Legislative e-update; also, "Reckoning with Torture"
program April 12
April 5, 2010
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Hello
--
The last time we wrote, after the town meeting break,
we noted that the Vermont Yankee vote was over and that the budget
battle was about to begin.
It took a little longer for the
"battle" to start than one might have thought. That's because the budget
the House passed in late March wasn't really a functional budget. It
contained a wish list of cuts that weren't fleshed out until last week
-- when details of the "Challenges for Change" document were released.
It
seemed an odd way to do a budget -- establish targets and then try to
figure out how to meet them .... and make sure the Senate has time to
weigh in .... and all this by the adjournment deadline of April 30.
It's
no wonder the mood in the Statehouse last week started in befuddlement.
By week's end it was trending towards frustration, and this week it is
likely to blossom into opposition.
The reality of the "Challenges
for Change" proposals are sinking it.
On Tuesday, the public
gets a chance to weigh in at a Statehouse hearing at 5 p.m. It is
likely to be a lively affair.
Budget deliberations are often not
civil liberties issues. But the scope of the "Challenges for Change"
proposals are so sweeping that it's impossible for the two not to be
mixed.
For example, cost-saving proposals to the state's mental
health system are based on changes to laws regarding involuntary
medication. Forcing drugs on someone represents a huge threat to
personal liberties.
Mandated consolidation of school districts
could lead to changes in tax structures. That could impact the equity
required by the Vermont Supreme Court's Brigham decision.
We reported last time that the
message from communities' town meetings in early March was be frugal,
but be responsible. The "Challenges for Change" approach meets the
"frugal" test, but the Legislature is going to have to figure out if
it's "responsible."
If you'd like to tell the Legislature what
you think of the "Challenges for Change" proposals, attend the public
hearing Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Statehouse in Montpelier.
-- Allen
Gilbert, executive director
-- Serena Hollmeyer, Loomis fellow
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Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Bill Dies
The
Senate has given up on S. 226, the bill to create a dispensary system to provide
medical marijuana to approved patients.
The House just isn't
interested in the initiative, Senate leaders said. The bill -- approved
by the Senate Government Operations Committee -- was repeatedly amended
and eventually passed over when it came before the full Senate. Last
week it was ordered "to lie," a parliamentary move that signals no
further action. (To see the bill as it came out of committee, go to the Senate Calendar of March 16 and navigate to Page 360.)
The bill was bitterly opposed by law enforcement.
Individually and through a special panel, officers testified that the
bill would lead to increased crime and increased drug abuse.
This
is the second time the Senate has taken the lead on a drug reform issue
and the House has balked. The other was two years ago, when the Senate
voted to relax prosecution of possession of small amounts of marijuana.
It
seems ironic that the Legislature is being asked to change the state's
involuntary medication laws while it balks at voluntary medical use of a
drug whose only drawback seems to be an image problem. Even the
American Medical Association now acknowledges the palliative effects of
marijuana.
The
ACLU
has worked with other organizations and individuals on this issue for a
number of years. One such group is the Vermont Alliance for Intelligent
Drug Laws, or VALIDVT. Also, there's
comprehensive information on national drug law reform efforts at the National ACLU's Drug Law Reform
Project's site.
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Highway
Safety Bills In Limbo
While the Legislature sinks
into debate over the "money" bills -- the capital, transportation, and
budget bills -- other bills passed by one chamber but not the other hang
in limbo. These bills may be taken up whenever there's a break in
financial discussions. Or they may be held until late in the session,
when the press of adjournment leads to deal-making and compromises.
Highway
safety is likely to be one of those issues that sits around until a
deal's been made and leadership pushes the compromise.
The
disagreement between the House and Senate is over the scope of the
measures to be enacted. Both chambers agree texting while driving should
be banned. The disagreement is whether other highway safety measures
should be taken up as well. The House says "yes," the Senate "no."
The
ACLU remains concerned about the primary seatbelt enforcement
provision the House is pressing. ("Primary" enforcement means police can
stop you solely on suspicion you're not using your seatbelt.) Because
of the potential for arbitrary stops, we think that police should be
required to collect racial/ethnic/gender data when they make stops.
Collecting "stop data" is the most effective tool in preventing racial
profiling -- an issue that has plagued the state for many years, with
allegations from minorities that they are routinely targeted by police.
(Read the Racial Profiling in Vermont 2009
report by the Vermont Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights.)
The disagreement between the two chambers is sharp.
It's the sort of conflict you'd usually associate with opposing
political parties. (Procedurally, the expansive House bill on highway safety has
been grafted onto the more narrow Senate bill on texting; last year,
the Senate didn't act on the House's highway safety bill.) So far,
neither side has indicated it will retreat from its position.
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Reckoning With Torture
 Following the events of Sept.
11, 2001, the United States launched a "War on Terror" -- a war against
an enemy ill-defined and tied to no geographic place.
The
tactics employed by the U.S. government to
wage
the war ranged from conventional combat to espionage. They also included
torture, a fact denied by the government at the time but since
confirmed in thousands of pages of documents obtained by the ACLU
through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
On Monday,
April 12,
librarians, lawyers, professors, students, writers, and others will
read from recently released secret documents - memos, declassified
communications, and testimonies by detainees at Guantanamo and
elsewhere.
The event is sponsored by the ACLU-VT and
the University of Vermont Libraries. It will take place at 7 p.m. at
Memorial Lounge of the Waterman Building on the UVM campus in
Burlington. It's free and open to the public.
Featured readers include:
- Philip Baruth, UVM English professor and writer
- David
Budbill, writer
- Stephanie Farrior, Vt. Law School international
law professor
- Robert Gensburg, Guantanamo detainee laywer
- Traci
Griffith, Saint Michael's College communications professor
- Ateqah
Khaki, ACLU National Security Program staff
- Trina Magi, UVM
library professor
- Travis Nelson, UVM political science professor
- Hilary
Neroni, UVM film studies professor
- Adelit Rukomangana, M.A. in
theology, native of Rwanda
- David Sleigh, Guantanamo detainee
lawyer
- Emma Vick, UVM student
- Sydnee Viray, social
worker, advocate, and UMV staff member
The event is being held during National Library Week in
recognition
of the important work that libraries do to make information available to
the public.
Click this link for a list of the
readings, and samples
from the documents to be read.
A copy of a
2009 New York Times story,
"ACLU Lawyers Mine Documents for Truth," can be found in The New York Times archives.
We'll also be providing updates on the ACLU-VT Facebook page about the
event -- background on
the readers and on the documents.
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Civil
Liberties Over Lunch In Middlebury
Want to talk about
civil liberties as you munch your lunch?
The Ilsley Public
Library in Middlebury and the ACLU have teamed up to sponsor a four-part
reading and discussion series on challenges to and protection of basic
rights. The discussion began in February but runs through May 19. You
can catch up.
- Gideon's
Trumpet by Anthony Lewis, April 21, guest speaker attorney Mitch
Pearl.
- Arc of Justice: A Saga
of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin
Boyle, May 19, guest speaker ACLU-VT Executive Director Allen Gilbert.
All
discussions take place at 12:15 p.m. at the library.
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