Support the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 - Passed House
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UPDATE (03/03/21): The House has passed H.R. 1280 with a 220 to 212 vote. The legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration.
First introduced in 2020 in the wake of nationwide protests against police brutality, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act has been re-introduced by Reps. Karen Bass (D-CA) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.). This legislation proposes the most comprehensive reforms to policing in over 50 years.
In order to address what legislators call “persistent unchecked bias in policing” and “a history of a lack of accountability” that is wreaking havoc in black communities, this legislation proposes:
- amending the U.S. Code to lower the legal standard of “mens rea”, making prosecution of misconduct easier;
- reforming qualified immunity for police officers to allow individuals to recover damages when their constitutional rights are violated;
- establishing a National Police Misconduct Registry to track police misconduct and thwart officers from switching jurisdictions to avoid accountability;
- mandating training on racial bias and the duty to intervene;
- placing limits the transfer of military-grade weapons to state and local law enforcement agencies and requiring the use of body cameras;
- empowering state attorneys general and the Justice Department to play a much larger role in its oversight of police agencies;
- allowing the federal government to restrict funding for state and local police agencies that fail to adopt the policies and training aimed at combating racial bias and profiling;
- banning the use of choke-holds;
- banning “no-knock” warrants in drug-related cases; and
- making lynching a federal crime.
Demand your members of Congress support H.R. 1280 the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021. While it does not solve the problem of systemic racism inherent in modern policing, placing these limits on power will go a long way to limiting unchecked violence in black communities.
