Will Harrell and the New Texas ACLU Lay Siege to the Lege

For an organization that limped through the Nineties with virtually no presence at the Legislature, the Texas state office of the American Civil Liberties Union is enjoying something of a progressive lobbying renaissance this session. ACLU-supported legislation is thus far doing well. As of last week, a bill prohibiting racial profiling by police had passed the Senate, and has good prospects in the House. A historic (if somewhat limited) reform of the state's criminal defense system for indigent defendants is also likely to pass. Two bills on rules of evidence in drug cases are a little shakier, but have moved forward. A bill requiring public access to the disciplinary records of police officers is expected to pass, and another one requiring that the testimony of police informants be corroborated by other sources will pass out of Senate committee soon. And two House bills calling for a moratorium on the death penalty -- unlikely to pass, but receiving surprisingly wide support -- will move to a floor debate soon, as will a similar Senate bill.

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