The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Legislative Updates

By Amshula Jayaram

A number of important civil rights bills were introduced during the first session of the 111th Congress. Here is a brief roundup of bills that are still pending and that The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund will continue to focus on in 2010.

More information can be found in The Leadership Conference’s Voting Record at http://www.civilrights.org/advocacy/voting.

D.C. Voting Rights
On February 26, the Senate passed the DC Voting Rights Act, which would give full voting representation in the House of Representatives to the disenfranchised citizens of the District of Columbia. However, the Senate-passed bill included an amendment by Sen. John Ensign, R. Nev., which would significantly ease the city’s gun restrictions. The amendment effectively stalled consideration of the bill in the House of Representatives. Many House members who would otherwise support D.C. voting rights are opposed to easing D.C.’s gun laws, and the D.C. government has voiced strong concerns about moving forward with the DC Voting Rights Act if it includes the gun amendment. The stalemate is likely to continue into 2010.

Graduation Promise Act
Currently in the United States, 1.2 million students, largely from low-income and minority households, do not graduate from high school in four years. The Graduation Promise Act, introduced in September by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D. N.M., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D. Nev., is intended to aggressively combat this problem by providing federal funding for competitive grants to high schools with the highest dropout rates, sometimes referred to as “dropout factories.” Currently, these schools account for half of America’s dropouts. At the core of this legislation are the High School Improvement and Dropout Reduction Fund, which will authorize $2.4 billion towards the creation of schoolcommunity partnerships to give students the support they need finish high school, and an additional $60 million towards programs for at-risk students and those who have already dropped out. Congress is likely to consider the bill in 2010.

Fair Sentencing Act
Under the 1986 Anti Drug Abuse Act, Congress set federal penalties for use and possession of crack and powder cocaine. Under this law, defendants convicted for possessing just five grams of crack cocaine – less than the weight of two sugar packets – are subject to a five-year mandatory minimum sentence. Yet, defendants selling powder cocaine have to be caught selling 100 times – 500 grams – as much to receive the same sentence.

Although the 1986 law was intended to target major drug traffickers and kingpins, it has led instead in large scale convictions of low-level drug users. The result has had a discriminatory impact on African Americans and lowincome people.

A bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Bobby Scott, D. Va., would raise the trigger for the mandatory minimum sentence for crack cocaine to 500 grams – equal to the trigger for powder cocaine. The House Judiciary Committee voted 16-9 to approve the bill on July 30. Sen. Dick Durbin, D. Ill., recently introduced similar legislation in the Senate that would end the disparity and increase penalties for major drug traffickers and violent criminals. Neither bill has been brought up for a floor vote.

ENDA
Legislation to prohibit employment discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation was introduced in both the House and Senate in 2009.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would extend the same federal employment discrimination protections currently given to race, religion, gender, national origin, age, and disability. Currently, only 20 states prohibit such discrimination. Both chambers have begun to hold hearings on the bills. The House bill, introduced by Rep. Barney Frank, D. Mass., has 192 cosponsors while the Senate bill, introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D. Ore., has 43 cosponsors.

The legislation also has widespread support within the corporate community and among the general public.

Amshula Jayaram is currently working on a master in public policy degree at Georgetown University. She is working with The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund through a year-long fellowship from Georgetown’s Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership.