As 2018 legislative session is over and we are on the heels of the May 15 Primary Election, we are happy to be releasing our official 2018 Legislative Report and Legislative scorecard.
That's right. We did things a little different this year and decided to combine both publications into one to give folks a well-rounded tool to engage lawmakers on civil liberty issues and inform voter on where some of their candidates stand on the issues that matter the most.
2018 Legislative Report
As we do with the start of every Legislative Session, we head to the capital ready to defend the rights the civil rights of all Idahoans. despite a few losses, we are proud to share that this session has been a resounding success for the ACLU and for civil liberties in Idaho. From stopping hateful, anti-Muslim legislation to moving forward several proactive criminal justice reform bills and protecting public education, it was a busy yet productive session once again.
2018 Legislative Scorecard
Why the scorecard is created:
We create created our legislative scorecard (our second one, to date) to let you know where your legislators stand on a number of issues civil liberty issues. We encourage you to use the scorecard to give your state representative and senator feedback on their votes during the 2018 Legislative Session. Direct communication with your elected officials is a valuable way to encourage them to stand up for freedom and protect our constitutional rights.
How the Scorecard is created:
We make sure that all the legislators know our position prior to voting on important civil liberty issues. by distributing a floor statement explaining our position. We then select a range of key civil liberty issues to include in our scorecard. This year, many bills that originated in the House and were approved there were ultimately held in Senate committees, effectively killing them. Thus, we score the House on more bills than the Senate.
Dig in and take a look!
