HB 507 would require health care providers, when involved in professional instruction or clinical training, to obtain specific informed consent (both verbal and written), before performing a pelvic, rectal, or prostate examination while the patient is anesthetized or unconscious in a facility that provides health care services.

HB 689 would make drug felonies and some property-related felonies eligible for criminal record sealing, while shortening eligibility waiting periods. This new Clean Slate bill would help people with old criminal records improve their employment prospects and help Pennsylvania employers find candidates for jobs that they desperately need to fill.

The ACLU-PA was previously neutral on HB 1278, but Senate amendments gutted hard-fought language that was successfully negotiated between stakeholders. As a result, HB 1278 reinstates several problematic provisions‚ two in particular: (1) the broad permission it grants parole agents to intercept communications, including third parties who are not under supervision; and (2) the failure to limit how or when footage may be shared with outside law enforcement agencies.

HB 1289 would provide property owners or homeowner associations a streamlined process to repudiate unlawful restrictive covenants from their deeds. An unlawful restrictive covenant is defined as a provision that purports to restrict ownership or occupancy of real property based on a practice or policy of discrimination against individuals or groups covered under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

Pennsylvania's current anti-SLAPP law is too narrow, too weak, and long overdue for an update. HB 1466 is a commonsense, bipartisan proposal that would protect all forms of First Amendment expression while making it easier for people to defend against frivolous lawsuits. Pennsylvanians deserve to speak freely without the threat of costly litigation standing in the way of their First Amendment right to public expression.

HB 1700 would add federal judicial officers as protected officials under 18 § 2719 (endangering a public official). But federal judges are already protected under several offenses in the U.S. Code. Additionally, under the dual sovereignty doctrine, HB 1700 would enable prosecution of the same conduct under both state and federal law. Duplicating protections for federal judges under state law will only lead to excessive punishment and even more unnecessary and redundant laws.

HB 2266 would create new, duplicative offenses to penalize street racing and "drifting." The new summary offenses could currently be charged under reckless driving, and the new third-degree felony offense could currently be charged as either aggravated assault by vehicle or homicide by vehicle.

When SB 1 passed the Senate, it proposed three separate constitutional amendments that would 1) limit executive branch regulatory authority; 2) require voters to show ID at each election; and 3) create a two-year statute of limitations window for survivors of child sexual abuse. The House amended SB 1 to limit the bill to the statute of limitations amendment, on which the ACLU-PA took no position. As a result, only the final Senate floor vote was scored.

SB 7 would require schools to identify sexually explicit content in school curriculum, materials, and books, notify parents and allow them to review those materials, require parental consent for their children to access the material, and provide alternative curricula if they object. This policy would likely result in preemptive censorship, especially of LGBTQIA+ materials, and would divert educators from prioritizing their work with students.

SB 37 would create a new offense to prohibit motorists from using “interactive mobile devices” while driving. This new offense would dangerously expand law enforcement’s power to conduct and justify pretextual traffic stops. Giving police newfound justification to pull people over would make people less safe, while simultaneously undermining local efforts to find less expensive, more effective, and less lethal ways to enforce low-level traffic violations.

SB 44 would expand the definition of trafficking in individuals to include those who “patronize” a person that may be subject to sexual servitude. Patronizing a victim of sexual servitude is already punishable as a third-degree felony because current law recognizes the difference between someone who is engaged in the process or business of trafficking and someone who patronizes a person being trafficked. SB 44 would erase this critical distinction.

SB 140 would create a "special prosecutor" under the Attorney General’s office who is responsible for prosecuting and investigating all crimes that occur on public transportation in Philadelphia. SB 140 is a brazen attempt to undermine the authority of one district attorney, in one city, to override the votes of every Philadelphian who elected him. It would also violate the PA Constitution, which prohibits the state from creating special laws that interfere with local authority.

SB 165 would charge any overdose prevention center with a felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines for an individual or up to $2,000,000 in fines for a clinic. These penalties EXCEED the statutory maximum penalties for a first-degree felony. In other words, the penalty for providing a space that can save people from deadly overdoses is *more severe than the punishment for murder.*

SB 170 would create a standardized statewide expungement process for juvenile records under certain circumstances and require a Chief Juvenile Probation Officer to notify the court when a person's juvenile record(s) are eligible for expungement. Establishing a mechanism to expunge these records would ensure that young people who have completed their obligations to the court are not held back from successful transition into adulthood due to prior involvement in the juvenile justice system.

SB 235 would impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a fine of $15,000 (or more) for any person convicted of drug delivery resulting in death if the person had two or more prior convictions, or any person who “received anything of value" in exchange for any controlled or counterfeit controlled substance. Not only would SB 235 result in the imprisonment of people suffering from substance use disorder, it would impose the failed and ineffective blunt instrument of mandatory minimums.

SB 239 would establish guidelines and procedures that govern the investigation and interrogation of correctional and forensic employees. The due process protections for non-criminal misconduct are too broad, making it easier to hide misconduct and harder to hold officers accountable.

SB 527 would create a new, duplicative offense that could already be charged under current law (theft by unlawful taking). Furthermore, it would treat acceptance of ARD as an adjudication of guilt to trigger penalty enhancements, likely violating constitutional guarantees of due process and the presumption of innocence.

SB 596 would amend the organized retail theft statute to drastically lower the thresholds for the retail value of stolen goods to make it easier to charge people with felonies. SB 596 is a bill that relies on demonstrably failed policies in response to an exaggerated “crisis.” If enacted, it would exacerbate existing racial and economic disparities in our criminal legal system, putting more people behind bars for longer.

Pennsylvania's Wiretap Act includes a sunset provision, currently due to expire on December 31st, 2023. SB 598 would extend the sunset deadline until December 31st, 2029. It is critical that the legislature does not allow the Wiretap Act to expire, as it provides numerous privacy protections for Pennsylvanians. It also includes permission for the use of body cameras by law enforcement.

SB 709 would enhance the penalties for killing a bald or golden eagle one degree higher than for any other endangered or threatened species. Currently, this offense already provides for steep penalties, all of which would carry time ranging from 2-7 years in prison, fines between $5k-$15k, and a possible suspension of a hunting license from 7-15 years. There is no need to carve out one endangered species for overly punitive penalties.

The new offenses proposed under SB 819 are unnecessary and duplicative, as violations against critical infrastructure facilities are already covered under PA’s existing criminal trespass and vandalism statutes.

SB 838 fails to meaningfully reform our broken probation system and changes current law in ways that risk making probation worse in PA by making it easier for judges to incarcerate people after revoking their probation and allowing judges to keep people on probation indefinitely for those who can't pay restitution in full. As such, SB 838 squanders a rare opportunity to meaningfully improve probation in Pennsylvania while threatening to exacerbate the problems that drive its dysfunction.

SB 842 would create a new, separate and duplicative offense for actions already criminalized as harassment under current law. This new offense would punish harassment of sports officials more severely than almost any other target of harassment. This is an unnecessary bill that only serves to further bloat our criminal code, while handing prosecutors more charges to stack against defendants to induce guilty pleas.

SB 897 would increase fines and impose enhanced penalties for repeat offenses for school bus-related traffic violations. Current penalties are significant already. Imposing an across-the-board fine increase is the same failed logic used to justify mandatory minimums. Needlessly increasing penalties, which we know do not have any deterrent effect, only exacerbates financial inequalities between people who can afford to have an attorney represent them at a traffic hearing and those who cannot.

SB 907 would amend the Public School Code to require that every school entity in PA have at least one full-time armed school security person on duty during the school day. SB 907 will create a more intimidating and militarized learning environment for students, exacerbate Pennsylvania’s high student arrest rates—especially for students of color and students with disabilities—while likely increasing the risk of injury and death during a school shooting.

SB 913 would require parental consent for virtual mental health services provided by a school entity. SB 913 places obstacles in the path of support when teens are at an increased risk for mental health issues at a time when there aren't enough therapists in our schools or communities to adequately meet their needs. Rather than establishing "appropriate safeguards", SB 913 is a thinly veiled attempt to circumvent existing laws that give 14+ year olds autonomy over their own care.

SB 959 would permit the automatic scheduling and rescheduling of substances under PA's drug code to align with federal drug schedules. The ACLU-PA would have been neutral on this stand-alone change. However, SB 959 not only fails to provide for a similar process to deschedule or lower the schedule of a substance if/when its federal schedule changes, but it also eliminates the current ability for the PA Secretary of Health to make such an adjustment.

SB 975 would make any threat against a school or educational facility a third-degree felony, punishable by up to 7 years in prison and $15,000 in fines. But current law already punishes threats against a school as a third-degree felony if it resulted in people being "diverted from their normal operations." If it didn't, the offense is graded as a first-degree misdemeanor. As such, SB 975 is both overly punitive and likely redundant.

SB 977 would create a new criminal offense, with five suboffenses, to punish harm caused to public transportation operators. Each of these offenses are already criminalized under current law and as such, are duplicative and unnecessary.

SB 998 would create new, duplicative offenses to penalize street racing and "drifting." The new summary offenses could currently be charged under reckless driving, and the new third-degree felony offense could currently be charged as either aggravated assault by vehicle or homicide by vehicle.

SB 1031 would eliminate the unnecessary and burdensome requirements for the licensing of natural hair braiders in Pennsylvania. Instead, the bill would convert licenses to permits. Removing the onerous prerequisite that natural hair braiders complete 300 hours of instruction at a cosmetology school prior to examination and licensing would unburden small business owners of this costly regulation while preserving the positive benefits of examination and consumer safety granted by licensure.

SB 1118 would allow courts to impose community service in lieu of payment for traffic fines for those who are unable to pay, while also requiring judges to follow robust guidelines for holding ability to pay hearings. SB 1118 would alleviate the archaic and overly punitive practice of suspending a person's driver's license as punishment for nonpayment or failure to respond to a citation, or jailed simply because they can't afford to pay a traffic ticket.

SB 1120 would unconstitutionally prohibit judges from assigning non-monetary bail for defendants based only on their charges. SB 1120 would violate (1) the constitutional requirements for bail consideration, and (2) the constitutional separation of powers, which gives the courts power to decide criminal legal procedures. In addition, if enacted, SB 1120 would have little effect on current bail practices. It would, however, exacerbate economic and racial disparities in the criminal legal system.

SB 1127 would require state and county prosecutors to notify ICE if they become aware that a criminal defendant is not a citizen or is otherwise unlawfully in the U.S. ICE already has more than enough tools it needs to target people for immigration enforcement. Furthermore, entangling these two distinct systems by involving ICE during on-going criminal cases could have harmful ripple effects throughout the criminal legal system.

SB 1260 would prohibit PA state funds from boycotting or divesting from Israel and would withhold funding to higher education institutions that engage in a boycott or divestment from Israel. While narrowly tailored, by applying its restrictions to private and state-related schools, SB 1260 would violate First Amendment protections. The Commonwealth should not dictate whether those entities get funding based on political considerations.