Home  Documents / Forms Bill to make criminals a protected class
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Details for Bill to make criminals a protected class
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| Name | Bill to make criminals a protected class |
| Description | Representative Marlin Schneider
Re: LRB-3314/1, relating to prohibiting discrimination in housing because of arrest or conviction record, making it a Class I felony to discriminate in employment or housing because of arrest or conviction record, and providing a penalty.
In response to the opposition of my bill limiting access to CCAP, I have drafted new legislation that disavows the restrictions and directly addresses the problem of discrimination, particularly in employment and housing. My bill would make it a Class I felony for anyone to discriminate in employment or housing because of an arrest or conviction record on CCAP.
I have received numerous emails and letters from people across the state who have been harmed by the unlimited and unfettered access to CCAP. One woman who wrote me explained how she lost her job due to a wrongful accusation and was then forced to find new gainful employment. She then struggled to find employment because even though all the charges against her had been dropped, the case still remained on CCAP. The woman is now working for less than half the salary she had previously been earning, prompting her to foreclose her business resulting in future financial insecurity for her family. Another example was of a young college student who had not yet been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. This young man suffered from his first manic episodes in his last semester in college. These episodes caused erratic behavior and consequently, lead to four disorderly conduct misdemeanors and a restraining order. Once the student was diagnosed and recovering under the care of a psychiatrist, he too could not find gainful employment due to discrimination by employers using CCAP.
If there is going to continue to be open access to all CCAP records, I believe the public deserves three things: one, people should, at the very least, have the right to know when someone is using the database against them so they can defend themselves; two, people should have the right to verify if the information found on a database is actually them; and three, if the information found on the database is accurate, then people deserve to have the opportunity to give a background on the events that lead to the record.
Ultimately I hope LRB-3314/1 will dissuade landlords and employers from using CCAP as a discrimination tool, because if they do, and they are caught, they will then be the ones with a CCAP record.
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| Filename | 07-33141.pdf |
| Filesize | 38.69 kB |
| Filetype | pdf (Mime Type: application/pdf) |
| Creator | tabrentals |
| Created On: |
02/19/2008 13:31 |
| Viewers | Everybody |
| Maintained by | Editor |
| Hits | 419 Hits |
| Last updated on |
02/19/2008 13:32 |
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