Civil Liberties Team

Colorado Session 2010

The Civil Liberties team is focused on legislation that shows discrimination and returns rights back to those groups affected.

House Bill 10-1201 Concerning Duties Related to Peace Officer Contacts

Before conducting a consensual search of a car, a person in the car, a home, or a pedestrian, the bill requires a peace officer to read a statement related to consent to the search and obtain the person's written consent to the search. The consent applies only to searches for which there is otherwise no legal basis.

This bill is sponsored by Karen Middleton, Terrance Carrol, Buffie Mcfadyen, Ed Vigil, Mark Ferrandino, Joe Miklosi, Sal Pace, and Paul Weissman the House Majority Leader.

The point of the bill is to address racial profiling issues in Colorado, by requiring an officer of the peace to obtain verbal or written permission to search a vehicle or home.  Given the recent spate of anti-immigrant initiatives and bills out there (the impound initiative being one example), we in the Civil Liberties group feel that supporting this bill is the right move. An additional benefit of supporting this bill is the name recognition we could build for ourselves among wide variety of groups, both those with big names and those outside "the usual suspects."  ACT supports this bill along with the following organizations:

ACLU
Colorado Progressive Coalition
Rights for All People
Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition
NAACP Colorado Springs Chapter
Mi Familia Vota

as well as
Colorado Public Defender
Colorado Criminal Defense Bar
Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition
Colorado Latino Forum
Colorado League of United Latin America Citizens
Colorado Anti-Violence Program
CO Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
Latina Initiative
Prax(us) (an anti human trafficking group)
Servicios De La Raza
Women of Color Against Violence (also called INCITE)
Legislation

Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)
AmericansRightsAtWork.org
Right now, joining a union is the best step a worker can take to improve their economic situation, but the process is so tilted in favor of the big companies, and rife with intimidation and harassment from bosses that many workers never end up with a contract or a union even if they vote for one. This act restores balance to the process and imposes real penalties on companies who illegally fire their employees. It also address some fundamental flaws in the current law that big companies exploit in order to circumvent employees decisions.


Resource Websites

People For the American Way
pfaw.org
For over 25 years we've mobilized hundreds of thousands of Americans nationwide to fight for progressive values: equal rights, freedom of speech, religious liberty and equal justice under the law for every American.


Equal Rights Colorado
http://EqualRightsColorado.org
Equal Rights Colorado promotes equal rights for Colorado's GLBT people and their families through non-partisan state legislative advocacy.


New Era Colorado
http://NewEraColorado.org
New Era Colorado is a non-profit organization reinventing politics for our generation through innovative social and political action.


The White House Project
TheWhiteHouseProject.org
The White House Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that aims to advance women's leadership in all communities and sectors - up to the U.S. presidency - by filling the leadership pipeline with a richly diverse, critical mass of women.

Announcements

Did You Know?


Here's the latest data on Employer anti-union behavior...

Fact Sheet