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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 24, 2009 CONTACT: Jennifer Carnig at 212.607.3363 or [email protected] NYCLU to City Council: Rockefeller Drug Laws Cause Racial Disparities, Huge Taxpayer Burden February 24, 2009 – At a hearing today before the City Council, the New York Civil Liberties Union presented testimony illustrating the stark racial disparities and enormous financial burden generated by the Rockefeller Drug Laws in New York City. Socheatta Meng, the NYCLU’s legislative counsel, testified before the Council’s Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse and Disability Services. “By mandating harsh prison sentences based primarily upon the amount of drugs involved, this state’s drug-sentencing scheme has proven itself to be draconian, irrational, unfair and racially discriminatory,” Meng said. The NYCLU called on the City Council to urge New York State’s political leaders to significantly reform the drug sentencing laws. “This is a new political moment,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman, who did not testify. “Governor Paterson, as well as key legislative leaders in Albany, have publicly pledged their commitment to reform. A fiscal crisis requires strict cost-cutting. The time is ripe for us to demand real changes to our state’s drug sentencing laws.” Enacted in 1973, the Rockefeller Drug Laws mandate extremely harsh prison terms for the possession or sale of relatively small amounts of drugs. Supposedly intended to target drug kingpins, most of the people incarcerated under these laws are convicted of low-level, nonviolent offenses, and many of them have no prior criminal record. Despite modest reforms in 2004 and 2005, the Rockefeller Drug Laws continue to deny people serving under harsh sentences the ability to apply for shorter terms, and restrict the power of judges to place addicts into treatment programs.

Washington: Voting Rights Legislation Receives Editorial, Police Support Writing a Seattle Post-Intelligencer op-ed in support of voting rights legislation being considered in Washington State, a police chief and county sheriff stated that reenfranchisement was part of "good law enforcement." Gil Kerlikowske, chief of the Seattle Police Department and John Lovick, Snohomish County sheriff, wrote: "We support this legislation and do not think that the financial obligation should be a barrier to being able to vote. Why? Voting is an important way to connect people to their communities, which in turn, helps them avoid going back to crime. We want those who leave prison to become productive and law-abiding citizens. Voting puts them on that path." Following the guest column, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial board contributed its own view on disenfranchisement, calling the proposed measure "excellent legislation." Currently, the law strips voting rights from people with felony convictions who have outstanding court restitution and other fees which incur interest. The editorial states: "Combined with sociological factors, the current law has the dire effect of eliminating 17 percent of African-Americans and 10 percent of Latinos from voting eligibility. That's shockingly excessive. Legislators and Gov. Chris Gregoire should re-enfranchise those who have served their terms." The Columbian also published an editorial arguing that the time dedicated to the administration of checking individuals' balances is unnecessary. It also stated that the current law was not only a modern poll tax, but also racially discriminatory and "just plain malicious." Maryland: Bill Proposes Eligibility Notification Upon Release from Prison The Baltimore City Branch NAACP worked to help introduce into the Maryland General Assembly H.B. 483, which would require the Commissioner of Correction to provide written information on voter eligibility upon inmates' release from a State correctional facility. The bill, introduced by Del. Samuel Rosenberg and Sen. Lisa Gladden, would also require the Commissioner to work with the State Board of Elections in notice issue. Virginia/Kentucky: Disenfranchisement Reform Being Considered by Strictest States Project Vote's blog, TPM Café, featured an article on reform movements in the two states that permanently disenfranchise all citizens with felony offenses. Lawmakers in Virginia and Kentucky are considering reforming the law which bans that population from voting and requires people with felony convictions to seek permission to vote from their governors. South Dakota: Election Officials' Misunderstanding Disenfranchises Two Citizens "I will never get the chance to go back and make my voice heard," stated a woman who was erroneously denied the right to vote in the Nov. 4 general election, the Star Tribune reported. American Indians, Eileen Janis and Kim Colhoff are suing government officials in South Dakota because they say their felony criminal histories were improperly interpreted by election officials. State law disenfranchises those who have been sentenced to prison, according to the ACLU, but Janis and Colhoff were sentenced to probation, and thus should have been granted the right to vote. "It's hard not to feel like a second-class citizen when such a fundamental right is stolen in such a random way," said Janis. Nancy Abudu, staff counsel with the ACLU Voting Rights Project, said cases such as this one illustrates "the tragedy of what happens when election officials do not know how to administer the law." - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information -- e-mail: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

For Immediate Release: February 23, 2009 Contact: Dale Gieringer at (415) 563- 5858 Ammiano Bill to Tax and Regulate Marijuana Would Raise Over $1 Billion for State San Francisco, Feb 23 - Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-SF) announced the introduction of a landmark bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol and tobacco at a press conference today. The bill would save the state's taxpayers over $1 billion, according to an economic analysis by California NORML, with additional economic benefits of $12 -18 billion. See: http://www.canorml.org/background/CA_legalization2.html. "This bill is a winning proposition for California's taxpayers," says California NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer, a sponsor of the bill. "In this time of economic crisis, it makes no sense for California to be wasting money on marijuana prohibition, when we could be reaping tax benefits from a legal, regulated market instead." The bill would provide for licensed producers and distributors, who could sell to adults over 21. Producers would pay an excise tax of $50 per ounce, or about $1 per joint. Sales taxes would generate additional revenues, bringing total tax revenues to $1 billion. Additional economic benefits would be generated in the form of employment, business and payroll taxes and spin-off industries, like the wine industry, amounting to some $12 - $18 billion. Last but not least, the bill would save the state $170 million in costs for arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of marijuana offenders. The result would be to eliminate such prohibition-related problems as black market dealers and smugglers, grow houses, and pirate gardeners on public lands. The bill would not alter California's medical marijuana law, which allows patients, caregivers and collectives to grow medicine for themselves. Ammiano's bill is the first of its kind since California outlawed cannabis in 1913. Only after being prohibited did marijuana become widely popular, eventually being enjoyed by millions of Californians. Due to soaring enforcement costs, the legislature decriminalized possession of small quantities in the Moscone Act of 1975, saving the state's taxpayers $100 million per year. However, production and distribution remained illegal, leading to continued prohibition-related enforcement costs. Last year, agents eradicated a record 5 million illegal plants, up more than tenfold in five years. Marijuana arrests jumped to 74,119 in 2007, their highest level since the Moscone Act. California has over 1,500 inmates in state prison for marijuana offenses, ten times as many as in 1980. Marijuana is reported to account for 61% of the illicit drug traffic from Mexico, where prohibition-related violence has killed over 6,800. "Tom Ammiano deserves credit for recognizing that legal taxation and regulation is the only solution to California's marijuana problem," says Gieringer. "Marijuana users would happily pay taxes to buy it legally." California NORML also thanks former Sen. John Vasconcellos for providing the original draft of this legislation. Recent polls indicate that public support for legal marijuana is growing. A new Zogby poll found 44% of American voters support taxing and regulating marijuana, with support as high as 58% in western states: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7806