The ACLU of Kansas is never busier than when the Legislature is in session. Either independently or with our partners in various and diverse coalitions, we work to protect civil liberties for all Kansans by either placing, supporting, altering, or defeating legislation that would threaten those civil liberties.
We support every effort to develop policies and programs aimed at rehabilitating the people in Kansas’s prisons. Good-time credits incentivize good behavior (rather than simply punishing bad behavior), helping inmates to develop positive habits, and thereby reducing recidivism rates.
By reclassifying failure to register to a misdemeanor, HB 2474 puts Kansas in a position to reduce the prison population meaningfully. From FY 2014 – FY 2018, over 1,000 people were sent to prison for failing to register.
The ACLU of Kansas urges this Committee to pass HB 2512 as a means of promoting citizen participation in our elections and to set an example for broader implementation of this practice
Kansas needs to place an emphasis on comprehensive driver’s license suspension reform. SB 275 is an integral part of that process. The ACLU of Kansas strongly supports SB 275 and urges this Committee to take action to see that it is passed into law.
Given the deeply personal healthcare decisions this affects, the principles of gender equality and bodily autonomy that must be protected, and the danger of seeking to put fundamental constitutional rights and liberties to a vote, the ACLU of Kansas urges the legislature to oppose SCR 1613.
All residents of Fairway should be protected from discrimination in employment, public accommodation, and housing.