End-of-Session Legislative Review

This year's legislative session started on a down note (a gubernatorial election decided by legislators, budget cuts, and abandonment of plans for a health care overhaul), rolled through emotional issues (gun rights, mandatory vaccinations, and end-of-life choices), got overwhelmed by efforts to improve public schools (while spending less), and was beset by political missteps, ethical and procedural lapses, and the arrest of a state senator as an alleged sex offender. By May 16, when the session ended, everyone wanted to go home. For civil liberties bills specifically, the progress made in previous sessions was hard to repeat. Our focus shifted to preventing a number of bad bills -- or bad provisions in otherwise good bills -- from getting worse. With one major exception (the education reform bill), we were successful. Get the details on the bills we followed at our legislative report.