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Welcome to the 2015 legislative session and your weekly update. While the Florida legislature is not technically in session yet, committees are meeting to hold hearings and pass bills and we want to start sharing information with you now. Check back to the ACLU of Florida blog every week to find out what your representatives and senators are up to. We have both good and bad news about the past week in the state capitol. On Monday, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee held a very important oversight hearing with the Department of Corrections. In preparation for legislation that would try to reduce the prevalence of abuse and neglect in Florida prisons, the Senators grilled the Secretary and Inspector General of the Department of Corrections about the failure to provide health care to inmates, the inability to arrest corrections officers for criminal abuse of those in their custody and a general failure of accountability in the entire system.

This year, the ACLU of Florida is celebrating its 50th anniversary. That’s half a century of defending the rights and freedoms of Floridians. This timeline examines some of the most significant cases and historic moments in the history of the organization: 1965 – Founding: In response to the anti-Communist scare of the era, ACLU chapters in Miami, Gainesville and Tampa join together to form the ACLU of Florida. As described in the original 1965 charter, the organization’s mission will be “To uphold the guarantees of freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, and thought, as provided in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights and to uphold the Florida State Constitution and Declaration of Rights; to uphold due process of law and equal protection under the law as provided by the Constitution; to encourage an appreciation of our basic liberties; to perpetuate, through a program of education and positive action, respect and devotion for freedom and liberty.”

By Rebecca Guterman, ACLU's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief Since the devastating attacks in Paris and the mass shooting in San Bernardino, the United States has seen a spike in hate crimes against Muslims, efforts by governors in 30 states to bar the resettlement of Syrian refugees, and dangerous escalation in anti-Muslim rhetoric from presidential contenders. In an effort to stem the tide of religious intolerance, a variety of civil liberties and faith-based organizations have launched a new campaign, “Know Your Neighbor,” to promote interfaith understanding and protect basic religious freedoms. Last Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union joined a diverse collection of advocates at the White House, including the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the Center for Inquiry, the Hindu American Seva Societies, Muslim Advocates, the National Council of Churches, the Sikh Coalition, and others to help build knowledge and tolerance in this time of increasing divisiveness about religious liberty – a value we believe is at the heart of the American experience.

Gov. Rick Scott’s drug testing crusade comes to an end as state decides not to challenge appeals court ruling finding mandatory suspicionless government searches of TANF applicants unconstitutional