Neighborly actions TOMORROW and onward

Repeal LEOBOR for police accountability, build a sanctuary state, ban robocop dogs, decriminalize sex work, and protect protesters

Hi, everyone. Here are a few things to do for and with our neighbors this week, especially…

TOMORROW, 5/10, BY 2pm, remotely: The RI Senate Committee on Judiciary is hearing a bill (773) to repeal LEOBOR (the Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights), which protects police officers from the consequences of their most violent actions. LEOBOR is a major roadblock to any legal limitation or removal of police power in Rhode Island, and repealing it has the potential to be a good first step. Send your written testimony in support of this bill to jpbaxter@rilegislature.gov BY 2pm tomorrow.

I’d really like to flood the committee with written testimony, especially since they made the deadline for spoken testimony a Sunday that is also a holiday. Here are some points to hit if you’d like—some extra dangerous parts of LEOBOR and my translations from the legal language. Writing directly to the senators on the committee, especially if they represent you, is also a good move. The hearing agenda is here and includes a link to listen to/watch the proceedings tomorrow and, if you like, cheer on your testifying neighbors on social media.

TOMORROW, 5/10, BY 2pm, remotely: In the same hearing, the committee is taking public comment on Senate Bill 253, which would keep ICE from making surprise appearances and arrests at Rhode Island schools, places of worship and courts—they would need warrants to gain entry to these places. Not enough, but not bad! Again, written testimony in support goes to jpbaxter@rilegislature.gov BY 2pm.

5/11, BY 4pm (to sign up) / 5/12, 4pm onward (to testify), remotely: Can we please just not have terrifying police robots in Rhode Island? Could we please just not take that additional step into dystopian horror? For background on why these things are good to stop early, check here and here; sign up here for spoken testimony on RI House Bill 6298 by 4pm on Tuesday, or send written testimony to housejudiciary@rilegislature.gov by noon on Wednesday. You might also note in your testimony that the NYPD stopped using their robot cop dog almost immediately after widespread public outcry. I’m testifying in support of this bill, which is a ban on these technologies.

5/11, BY 4pm (to sign up) / 5/12, 4pm onward (to testify), remotely: I’ll also be testifying in opposition to yet another “make protesting a felony” bill, the House version (6269). Not only is this bill garbage in its own right, bills like this can be a gateway for more punitive and dangerous anti-protest/anti-dissent laws like the one that recently passed in Florida. It’s also unconstitutional, for those who care about such things! Sign up Tuesday to testify aloud or email written testimony to housejudiciary@rilegislature.gov by Wednesday.

5/12, BY 4pm (to sign up) / 5/13, 4pm onward (to testify), remotely: RI Senate Bill 771 declares that certain forms of sex work are no longer crimes, and makes it so that a person arrested for sex work cannot be charged for having an STI. Decriminalizing sex work would protect a lot of people from police violence, harassment and intimidation, as well as from the trauma and expenses of arrest and court. (As with many things, making sex work a crime has created less safe working conditions, not safer ones.) Sign up here to testify aloud in support, or send written support to jpbaxter@rilegislature.gov.

A good thing that happened is that 347 people wrote to tell the Energy Facility Siting Board not to give fossil fuels a free pass. If you were among those 347 people, thank you so much. This is the beginning of a longer fight, so stay with us.

With love
Kate