ACLU of Oregon Legislative Advocacy

Bill of Rights Action Network Webinar

March 15, 2013

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ACLU Legislative Advocacy

• Tracking almost 1,000 bills

• Monitor closely all bills that could impact civil liberties in Oregon

• Today we will highlight a few of our priorities

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Governor John Kitzhaber (D)

Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem)

Speaker of the House Tina Kotek (D-Portland)

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2013 Legislative Agenda

• Privacy and Technology: drones, social media, prescription drugs

• Immigrant Rights: tuition equity, driver licenses

• Criminal Justice: public safety reform 4

Unmanned aircraft (Drones)

• So far, no Oregon agencies have received necessary FAA approval to fly drones, but it’s only a matter of time.

• We are working with state

legislators and other stakeholders to make sure that, when drones come to Oregon, competing interests do not undermine our privacy.

• Drones should be subject to strict

limits on use, including clear terms to prohibit indiscriminate mass surveillance and monitoring of constitutionally protected activities.

*Second photo is of Insitu’s Trex450-style copter ($50,000) from www.diydrones.com

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Yes on HB 2710/SB 524: Law Enforcement Use of Drones

No mass surveillance. Drones should not be used for indiscriminate mass surveillance. Their use by police should be permitted only where they are likely to collect evidence relating to a specific instance of criminal wrongdoing, or in emergencies.

Information collected for one purpose should not be used for another. Information collected by drones should be kept securely and destroyed promptly once it is no longer needed.

Drones should not carry weapons. Weapons developed on overseas battlefields have no place in Oregon. There is a consensus forming on this issue. The Heritage Foundation and the International Association of Chiefs of Police both support sharp limits on weaponized drones.

Oversight is crucial. Communities, not just law enforcement, must play a central role in deciding whether to purchase drones. Like any new technology, drone use must be monitored to make sure it’s a wise investment that works. Communities and local governing bodies provide the best forum to exercise this type of oversight.

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Social Media Privacy Protection

• Prohibit employers and schools from demanding that employees, students, or applicants hand over passwords to their private social media accounts

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Yes on HB 2654/SB 344: Social Media Password Privacy Private information should be kept private

Current laws are inadequate to protect individuals from these flagrant invasions of privacy. The Act would prohibit employers and institutions of higher education from:

• Requiring or requesting disclosure of log-in information to any password-protected accounts,

• Requiring access to private material through indirect routes such as requiring employees or students to add them to their private social networks (e.g., by “friending” them) as a condition of employment or educational benefits or privileges,

• Discharging or otherwise penalizing any employee or student who refuses to provide access to private materials, or to threaten to do so, or refusing to hire anyone for that reason.

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Prescription Drug Monitoring Program

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• PDMP was established by the Legislature in 2009

• Meant to help prevent

prescription drug overdoses by monitoring doctor-shopping

• PDMP may not disclose

info to law enforcement without a probable cause warrant

• Pending legal battle

between DEA and PDMP for access

Photo from The Lund Report

No on SB 470: Significantly Expands PDMP to Collect and Share Too Much

• Threatens federal and state privacy laws by providing to the Board of Pharmacy the authority to add any prescription drug to the list of those monitored through the PDMP

• Deploys an alert system to notify a patient’s doctors or pharmacists of multiple prescriptions trigged by a vague standard of “potentially dangerous”

• Overrules current law, which allows for inter-state sharing of data only if “the confidentiality, security and privacy standards of the requesting state are determined by the authority to be equivalent to those of the authority.” SB 470 allows for access by practitioners licensed in CA, ID, and WA.

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No on SB 470: Significantly Expands PDMP to Collect and Share Too Much

• Adds new data points to the list of information collected about patients and their prescriptions, including “sex” and “source of payment,” each seemingly unrelated to effective health care delivery

• Opens access to unlimited numbers of staff in a doctor or pharmacist office with no additional accountability mechanism for staff misuse of the database or the records.

• Compromises original intent of the program, which is not meant to be a tool for law enforcement against patients or to “evaluate a practitioner’s professional practice,” by providing for the program to query all prescriptions entered under one prescriber number (“DEA number”)

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Equal Access to Education

• Yes on HB 2787 (Tuition Equity): Provides for all eligible students to access in-state tuition in Oregon, regardless of their immigration status

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Oregon Safe Roads Act

• Restore access to driver licenses to all eligible Oregon drivers

• Driver licenses are about road safety, not immigration status

• Demand a 1-tier system 13

Public Safety Re-Investment

• HB 3194 would restore discretion in sentencing to judges for certain mandatory minimum crimes and re-invest needed savings into treatment and other crime prevention measures

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How can civil liberties advocates get involved?

• Share your stories with us about how issues on our agenda affect you

• Write to, call or visit your state legislator to talk about why these issues are important – then report back to us!

• Follow us on social media for issue updates and action alerts

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Help Advance the Civil Liberties Agenda

• Yes on HB 2710: Sets out clear and transparent guidelines for law enforcement use of drones in Oregon

• Yes on HB 2654: Prohibits employers and schools from demanding access to private social media accounts

• No on SB 470: Expands Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and puts medical privacy at risk

• Yes on HB 2787: Provides equal access to in-state tuition for all eligible students

• Yes on HB 3194: Reforms our public safety system to re-invest scarce resources where they are most effective

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Questions?

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