WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Elaine Luria voted for historic policing reform legislation to rebuild trust between law enforcement and our communities, hold police accountable, and enhance public safety. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 (H.R. 7120) passed the House of Representatives today and represents an important step toward mending the relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
“At this moment in history, Congress must enact corrective policies to revitalize the critical role that police must play in keeping our communities safe and to ensure that all Americans have equal protection under the law,” said Congresswoman Elaine Luria. “The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act lays out an effective and comprehensive plan to rebuild the relationship between communities and the police, ensure accountability, and safeguard public safety for all Americans. I urge the Senate to quickly bring this historic reform legislation to the floor for a vote.”
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 will:
- Prohibit federal, state, and local law enforcement from racial profiling and mandate training on racial, religious, and discriminatory profiling for all law enforcement.
- Ban chokeholds, carotid holds, and no-knock warrants at the federal level and limit the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement.
- Mandate the use of dashboard cameras and body cameras for federal officers and require state and local law enforcement to ensure the use of police body cameras.
- Establish a National Police Misconduct Registry to prevent officers who are fired from moving to another jurisdiction without any accountability.
- Reform qualified immunity so individuals are not barred from recovering damages when police violate their constitutional rights.
- Establish public safety innovation grants for community-based organizations to create local commissions and task forces to help communities to re-imagine and develop concrete, just and equitable public safety approaches.
- Create law enforcement development and training programs to develop best practices.
- Require state and local law enforcement agencies to report use of force data, disaggregated by race, sex, disability, religion, age.
- Create a grant program for state attorneys general to develop authority to conduct independent investigations into problematic police departments.
- Establish a Department of Justice task force to coordinate the investigation, prosecution and enforcement efforts of federal, state and local governments in cases related to law enforcement misconduct.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act has the support of civil rights organizations, including Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Action Network, National African American Clergy Network, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP), Black Millennial Convention, and the National Urban League.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act also received praise from the Fraternal Order of the Police (FOP), which is the largest law enforcement labor organization in the United States. Earlier this month, FOP President Patrick Yoes released a statement affirming that, “We are heartened to see that there were provisions in the bill that we believe, after good faith discussions, will create a law that will have a positive impact on law enforcement and policing in our country.”
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