Articles Posted in Legislative Information

According to the Editors of The Crime Report, the movement to ban shackling pregnant prisoners is gaining momentum. On August 26, 2009, Governor David Paterson of New York signed a bill (now NY Chapter 411 2009) banning the practice for all but the most unruly inmates. What is happening in your state?

Only six states-California, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Texas and Vermont-have legislation regulating the use of restraints on pregnant women. Women detained in 44 states, the District of Columbia and the Federal Bureau of Prisons lack such legislative protection. Some state departments of corrections did not provide details on what type of restraints may be utilized during labor, nor did they provide their policy.

(Research provided by Amnesty International and The Rebecca Project for Human Rights.)

In its 2009 session, the Wyoming Legislature passed the Transparency in Government Act making information as to how state funds are spent readily accessible to the public. The Act requires the creation of a public finance website by January 1, 2010. The website will provide free access to financial reports, financial audits, budgets or other financial documents that are used to allocate, appropriate, spend and account for government funds. The Act also directs that an archive of all information posted will be maintained.

From e-mail by Kathy Carlson, Wyoming State Law Librarian.

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a Republican since 1966, said on Tuesday April 28 that he will switch to the Decmocratic Party and will run as a Democrat in 2010, thus presenting Democrats with a possible 60th vote and the power to break Senate filibusters.

Here is a link to Senator Specter’s statement made earlier today 4-28-09

On March 30, 2009 we posted information on this blawg about the historic agreement reached by New York lawmakers regarding reform of the Rockefeller drug law. Since that time there has been significant activity related to his effort including the signing of Chapter 56 of 2009 by the Governor on April 7, 2009. Although Chapter 56 is considered as primarily related to budget matters it contains significant material related to the Rockefeller Law reform initiatives.

For your information this posting includes links to those parts of the aforementioned legislation which appear to be relevant to the Rockefeller Drug Law reform issue. The links are to items I have posted on the New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library Blog:

http://www.bloglines.com/blog/PLL?id=12751 for Part AAA of Chapter 56 of 2009.

Information for this list was obtained from the New York State Legislative Retrieval System (LRS):

2009 CHAPTER LIST AS OF April 10, 2009 – Listed by Chapter Law Number, Highest number listed at top.

NOTE: Provisions regarding Rockefeller drug reform are included as Part AAA of Chapter 56A.

The U.S. Justice Department moved on Wednesday April 1 to drop all charges in the case against former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. In a federal court on Wednesday Justice Department lawyers explained that in addition to earlier disclosures they discovered further evidence of misconduct that raised questions about the way the entire case was handled.

Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. issued a statement (see link below) explaining the Department of Justice position and said that he would not seek a new trial.

Statement of Attorney Gereral Eric Holder Jr. Regarding Former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens

New York Governor David Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith announced an agreement of Friday March 27 that would effectively end the harshest provisions of the New York Rockefeller Laws The Agreement ends mandatory jail for first-time and non-felony offenders. It also gives judges total authority to send non-violent addicts to treatment instead of jail.

The new drug reform agreement is included in New York budget bill A156 as Part AAA beginning on page 113. To see Part AAA in Microsoft Word format click on the link below to the information provided by William Halsted of the New York Legislative Retrieval System.

New York Rockefeller Laws Reform 2009 – Part AAA of A.156

I was going to post something about the comparative funding levels between the House and Senate versions of the stimulus legislation, but have just learned that ProPublica has already done so on their blog. Congratulations to ProPublica for a really good posting.

Here is the link. http://www.propublica.org/special/the-stimulus-bills-house-vs.-senate

This posting links to a summary of the highlights of proposed stimulus legislation. including the Nelson-Collins Amendment and other floor amendments as of February 6, 2009. It is not a complete listing of all programs and spending included in the proposed legislation, but it provides a good overview for those who need access to this information now.To see this document click on the link below. The Nelson-Collins Amendment as of now now (morning of 2-9-2009) appears to be the working Senate version of the proposed economic stimulus legislation.

U.S. Congress, Summary of proposed economic stimulus legislation under H.R.1 as included in Nelson-Collins Fact Sheet and Related Documents as of 2-6-09

FROM: News from the [New York] State Archives, Region 1, No. 1-2/2009.

Preserving the American Historical Record Act (PAHR): The Act will authorize grants to support the essential evidence of American government and society held by state and local governments, historical societies, and libraries.

Status: On May 15, 2008, the Preserving the American Historical Record Act (H>R> 6056) was introduced in the 110th Congress. Original co-sponsors were Representatives Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Chris Cannon (R-UT). This legislation would provide authorization for the Preserving the American Historical Record program to preserve essential documents and archival records held in state and local governments and historical institutions….

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