HR 7120 : George Floyd Justice in Policing Act

Position: Support Status: Passed the House

Congress must pass meaningful police reform legislation to protect Black and Brown communities from over policing, police brutality, misconduct, and harassment.

Update

6/25/2020 Passed/agreed to in House: On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 236 - 181 (Roll no. 119). 6/19/2020 Committee on Energy and Commerce discharged. 6/19/2020 Committee on Armed Services discharged. 6/19/2020 Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Judiciary. H. Rept. 116-434, Part I. 6/8/2020 - Introduced in the House by Rep. Bass, Karen [D-CA-37]
HR 2170 has 230 cosponsors including Oregon Congresswoman Bonamici, Oregon Congressmen Blumenauer, DeFazio, and Schrader.

Read HR 7120 here.

From the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights:

  • Require a federal standard that use of force be reserved for only when necessary as a last resort after exhausting reasonable options, and incentivize states to implement this standard; require the use of de-escalation techniques, and the duty to intervene; ban the use of force as a punitive measure or means of retaliation against individuals who only verbally confront officers, or against individuals who pose a danger only to themselves; and require all officers to accurately report all uses of force;
  • Prohibit all maneuvers that restrict the flow of blood or oxygen to the brain, including neck holds, chokeholds, and similar excessive force, deeming the use of such force a federal civil rights violation;
  • Prohibit racial profiling with robust data collection on police-community encounters and law enforcement activities. Data should capture all demographic categories and be disaggregated;
  • Eliminate federal programs that provide military equipment to law enforcement;
  • Prohibit the use of no-knock warrants, especially for drug searches;
  • Change the 18 U.S.C. Sec. 242 mens rea requirement from willfulness to recklessness, permitting prosecutors to successfully hold law enforcement accountable for the deprivation of civil rights and civil liberties;
  • Develop a national public database that would cover all police agencies in the United States and its territories; and,
  • End the qualified immunity doctrine that prevents police from being held legally accountable when they break the law.