Most state legislatures hold their sessions in the first part of the year, so winter and spring are a very busy time for the Alliance's state campaigns. New Mexico is not the only state where great work is going on around drug policy reform - check out what's going on elsewhere in the country:
 
Alabama: Legislation sponsored by the Alliance as part of the Alabama New Bottom Line Campaign has just passed the state Senate and now goes to the House. SB 365, "The Alabama Effective Parole and Probation Public Safety Act," would dramatically reduce parole and probation periods in a state with an extremely high rate of incarceration for nonviolent drug offenses. Current parole periods for these offenses are often 10-15 years long, and SB 365 would instead create a two-year limit.
 
The Alabama New Bottom Line Campaign - which includes The Ordinary People Society and works closely with the Alabama Sentencing Commission, the Alabama Leadership Council and others - is also working to educate policymakers about SB 258, which would change the drug sentencing guideline provisions and reduce the sentence for certain drug offenses — particularly for marijuana.
 
California: An Alliance-sponsored bill that would correct sentencing differences for certain crimes involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine had a big success this week when it was approved by the Assembly Public Safety Committee. This victory was covered by ABC News and radio station KGO, among others. Another bill the Sacramento office has been working on that is currently being considered by the legislature, AB 296, would combat the current hepatitis C epidemic in California prisons by mandating harm reduction education and voluntary screening.
 
Alliance staffer Nikos Leverenz also testified against two bills opposed by the Alliance, which then died in committee. One would have made it a felony to consume controlled substances in front of minors, and the other would have precluded overnight family visits for convicted felons. For more information on these bills and the Alliance's work in the California legislature, please click here. 
 
Connecticut: A coalition group called the Connecticut Alliance, of which the Drug Policy Alliance is a member, has been working for drug and prison policy reform in the legislature this year. On March 28, there will be a public hearing for two important bills: HB 6578, a medical marijuana bill, and HB 5076, a bill to correct the sentencing disparities for crimes involving crack cocaine versus powder cocaine. For more information about the hearing and these bills, please visit the Connecticut Alliance website.
 
Maryland: The Alliance is sponsoring two Maryland bills, one that would reform mandatory minimum sentencing laws for nonviolent drug offenders, and another that would restore voting rights to people with felony convictions once they have been released from prison. The bill that would reform mandatory minimums, SB 673, is being voted on in the Senate today and in the House next week. HB 12, the voting rights bill, will be voted on tomorrow in the House. 
 
New York: The Real Reform Coalition is hosting a Rockefeller Reform rally on May 6th.  Stay tuned for details on the rally at the Real Reform website. 
 
Texas: On Monday, the Texas Justice Network, of which the Alliance is a founding member, held a Family Lobby Day in Austin around two bills: one to abolish regional drug task forces in Texas, and the other to eliminate racial profiling. Activists were present from all over the state, including Tulia, the site of the infamous drug task force power abuse scandal, and Hearne, another site of drug task force violations. The day was a tremendous success, with close to a thousand people receiving lobby day trainings followed by a rally at the Capitol.

Wisconsin: As part of a campaign called TIP (Treatment Instead of Prisons), the Alliance wrote and is supporting a Proposition 36-style treatment-instead-of-incarceration bill which will be heard in the Budget Committee on April 12th. For more information on our work in Wisconsin, please visit our Wisconsin page or the TIP site.