SACRAMENTO - The ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse support legislation introduced by Senator Joe Simitian of Northern California that would prohibit identity documents issued by the state, including driver's licenses and library cards, from containing a microchip that contains personal information.

"This is all about individual privacy, personal safety and financial security," said Senator Joe Simitian. "SB 682 ensures that state and local government will be part of the solution, not part of the problem."

The legislation was introduced days after a company in Sutter, California withdrew its pilot program from an elementary school amidst parents' concerns that their children were tagged like inventory. The school district introduced the mandatory use of Radio Frequency Identification tags (RFIDs) to track students' movements. The students were required to wear ID badges that included the device along with the student's name, photo, grade, school name, class year and the four-digit school ID number without parents' consent.

"We fully support this legislation that will protect families throughout California from having to go through what we did - seeing our children tagged like inventory or cattle," said Jeffrey and Michele Tatro, parents of a Sutter elementary student who had to wear the mandatory RFID.

The Identity Information Protection Act of 2005 (SB 682), would prohibit any identity document created by the state, county, or municipal government, from containing a "contactless integrated circuit" or any other device that can broadcast an individual's name, address, telephone number, date of birth, race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, photograph, fingerprint, social security number and any other unique personal identifier or number.

"The signals broadcast by this type of badge can be picked up by anyone with the technology to read it, which allows a child's identity and location to be pinpointed with ease. This does not increase security, it lessens it," said Pam Noles, a policy associate for the ACLU of Southern California. "In Sutter, these badges compromised the safety of the elementary school students and parents weren't even given the option to consent to their use."

Beth Givens, executive director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego, added: "Senator Simitian's bill provides vital protection for all Californians. Individuals who are required to carry government issued IDs should not be put in a situation where that document enables them to be monitored and tracked."

LOS ANGELES - In a letter to Sheriff Lee Baca and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, the ACLU of Southern California sought assurance that a county jail budget increase will end the practice of forcing inmates to sleep on the floor.

The Board of Supervisors allocated an additional $24.4 million to the jail coffers last December with the intent to reopen jail beds and curb the early release of inmates. Sheriff Baca says he will reopen 760 beds in March and 400 beds in May. Currently about 650 inmates at the seven county facilities sleep on the floor each night. The county must provide each inmate with a bed after one night on the floor.

"Right now conditions are so poor, especially at decrepit facilities like Men's Central Jail, that they create a public health risk for deputies, inmates and the community. More beds are essential to accommodate the existing inmate population," said Jody Kent, Jails Project Coordinator for the ACLU.

Overcrowding in the jails augments tension among inmates and facilitates the spread of staph and other infectious diseases making it an unhealthy work environment and a danger to all of Los Angeles. It is also in direct violation of the court order Rutherford v. Block.

"The county's legal obligation is to get inmates off the floor after 24 hours and it is not meeting this requirement," said Ricardo Garcia, Criminal Justice Director for the ACLU of Southern California. "We expect these funds will help do that."

LOS ANGELES - County Supervisors and Sheriffs officials must ensure inmates in the seven jail facilities in Los Angeles have access to a bed, timely medical attention, clean clothes and showers in order to control the ongoing outbreak of a virulent form of staph infection. They must also employ an epidemiologist to monitor the bacteria immediately, say ACLU jails monitors.

The ACLU, which monitors conditions in the jails, conducted an audit of clothing exchange and showers in several cell blocks in Men's Central Jail throughout the fall and winter. The ACLU has also assisted hundreds of inmates every month in gaining access to medical care for treatment, including cases of staph infections.

"Unsanitary living conditions including trash build up, lack of linens, and inmates sleeping on the floor still exist in the county jails," said Jody Kent, Jails Project Coordinator for the ACLU of Southern California. "Until these conditions improve everyone - jail staff, inmates and the community - will be at risk of contracting staph."

The L.A. County jails are currently on a special schedule to reduce the spread of staph. Instead of showers every other day as mandated by the state, inmates are required to have access to a shower every day. Over the last several months the Sheriff's Department has made improvements in meeting this requirement.

"At first the jails were diagnosing staph as spider bites," Kent said. "Now they recognize it's a serious infection, but without reducing the inmate population and addressing the extreme overcrowding in the jails, especially at Men's Central Jail, it's nearly impossible to curb the outbreak."

The new strain of staph, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, is particularly pervasive and is sometimes resistant to common treatment. Health officials throughout Southern California have reported an increase in the infection as have jail staff at other jail systems throughout the country.