News

Expressing strong concern that California’s healthcare marketplace is not offering required voter registration opportunities to the thousands enrolling in healthcare coverage, the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the executive director of the state’s health benefit exchange, Covered California, demanding concrete steps toward compliance with the National Voter Registration Act. Read More

Download the Fall 2013 ACLU of Northern California Newsletter and read about our latest events and initiatives. Read More

Four servicewomen and the Service Women’s Action Network filed an amended complaint today in their lawsuit against the Department of Defense for its ongoing blanket exclusion of women from thousands of ground combat positions. The four servicemembers have all done tours in Iraq or Afghanistan – some deploying multiple times – where they served in combat or led female troops who went on missions wi... Read More

Today, ACLU attorneys sent a letter demanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stop its deeply troubling practice of arresting people at Kern County Courthouses. Over the past year, ICE agents have taken advantage of unsuspecting individuals who were attempting to pay fines, appear for court appearances, get married or obtain restraining orders. Read More

The ACLU of California announced Thursday that Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom will chair a blue ribbon panel that will study the complex legal and policy issues that must be resolved as California considers legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana for adults. Read More

Gov. Jerry Brown today vetoed SB 744, authored by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Long Beach) and which would have limited the circumstances in which students can be transferred to alternative schools, ensured appropriate educational placements and created ways for students sent to these schools to transfer back to mainstream schools. Read More

Gov. Jerry Brown today vetoed a bill that would have modestly reformed California’s drug sentencing laws for simple possession, significantly reduced incarceration costs for counties and helped the state end its ongoing incarceration crisis. Read More

Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation on Oct. 9, 2013 that would increase access to safe, early abortion for California women. The bill, AB 154 was authored by Assembly member Toni Atkins (D-San Diego). AB 154 improves access by authorizing trained and qualified nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and physicians assistants to perform early abortions. Read More

The ACLU of California applauds Governor Brown for signing AB 4, the TRUST Act, a bill authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano. The TRUST Act creates a clear standard for when local law enforcement will respond to federal immigration detainer requests that result from the Secure Communities program (S-Comm). S-Comm requires local law enforcement to share the fingerprints of anyone they arrest with ... Read More

Today, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 60: The Safe and Responsible Driver Act. Starting in January 2015, California residents who learn the rules of the road and pass a driving test will be eligible to obtain a driver's license regardless of immigration status. The Safe and Responsible Driver Act is an important step forward for over one million undocumented drivers who live in California... Read More

Sacramento - Less than a month after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the nation’s plan to scale back federal prison sentences for low-level drug crimes, the California Assembly today passed an historic drug sentencing reform bill that will allow counties to significantly reduce incarceration costs by giving local prosecutors the flexibility to charge low-level, non-violent drug offense... Read More

SACRAMENTO – Today the California Senate passed AB 154 – the Early Access to Abortion bill – by a vote of 25-11. The bill will soon move to Gov. Brown. Authored by Assembly Majority Leader Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), AB 154 would improve abortion access across the state for women who need it. The bill would authorize trained nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants to... Read More