The bill passed the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on a mostly party-line vote of 220–212,[5] but not the evenly divided but Democratic controlled Senate amid opposition from Republicans.[6][7] Negotiations between Republican and Democratic senators on a reform bill collapsed in September 2021.[7]
The legislation, described as expansive,[4] would:
Grant power to the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to issue subpoenas to police departments as part of "pattern or practice" investigations into whether there has been a "pattern and practice" of bias or misconduct by the department[10]
Provide grants to state attorneys general to "create an independent process to investigate misconduct or excessive use of force" by police forces[11]
Establish a federal registry of police misconduct complaints and disciplinary actions[11]
Enhance accountability for police officers who commit misconduct, by restricting the application of the qualified immunity doctrine for local and state officers,[10][12] and by changing the mens rea (intent) element of 18 U.S.C. § 242 (the federal criminal offense of "deprivation of rights under color of law," which has been used to prosecute police for misconduct) from "willfully" to "knowingly or with reckless disregard"[13]
Require state and local law enforcement agencies that receive federal funding to adopt anti-discrimination policies and training programs, including those targeted at fighting racial profiling[4]
Prohibit federal police officers from using chokeholds or other carotid holds (which led to the death of Eric Garner), and require state and local law enforcement agencies that receive federal funding to adopt the same prohibition[4]
Prohibit the issuance of no-knock warrants (warrants that allow police to conduct a raid without knocking or announcing themselves) in federal drug investigations, and provide incentives to the states to enact a similar prohibition.[4]
Change the threshold for the permissible use of force by federal law enforcement officers from "reasonableness" to only when "necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury."[4]
Mandate that federal officers use deadly force only as a last resort and that de-escalation be attempted, and condition federal funding to state and local law enforcement agencies on the adoption of the same policy.[4]
At a June 2020 hearing on police issues in the House Judiciary Committee, George Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, testified in favor of police reforms. Also testifying were the Floyd family's attorney Benjamin Crump (invited by the Democrats) and Angela Underwood Jacobs (invited by the Republicans), the brother of Federal Protective Service officer David "Patrick" Underwood, who was killed in the line of duty.[17][18][19] Committee Republicans invited conservative Fox News commentator and ex-Secret Service agent Dan Bongino,[19][20] who did not mention police brutality at the hearing and instead focused on dangers faced by police.[20] Committee Republicans also called Darrell C. Scott, a minister and prominent Trump ally, to testify.[19][21]
House members after passage of the bill on June 25, 2020
On June 17, 2020, after a nearly 12-hour debate, the House Judiciary Committee advanced the bill to the House floor on a party-line vote (with all Democrats voting yes and all Republicans voting no).[24] On the floor, the bill passed the Democratic-controlled House on a mostly party-line vote of 236–181.[25][26][27] The legislation's key sponsors sought to garner support for the bill from moderate Republicans,[10] but ultimately, only three House Republicans (all moderates) joined all House Democrats in voting to pass the bill: Representatives Fred Upton of Michigan, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and Will Hurd of Texas (the sole black Republican U.S. Representative).[26] At the time the bill could not pass the Republican-controlled Senate but it will be testified in the 2021 50-50 Senate controlled by the Democrats.[25][26]
Congressional gridlock and blockage in the Senate
The bill never advanced in 2020, due to opposition by Republicans, who then controlled the Senate.[28][29] Republican senators led by Tim Scott proposed alternative police legislation that was far narrower than the House bill favored by Democrats.[28][29][30] The Scott bill would introduce incentives for states and localities to change police practices (by limiting chokeholds and promoting the use of body cameras),[30][31] but would not restrict the qualified-immunity doctrine,[30] would not ban chokeholds or otherwise federally restrict police use of deadly force,[30] and would not restrict no-knock warrants.[31] Democrats and civil rights organizations oppose the Senate Republican proposal as too weak;[29][30]Senate Minority LeaderChuck Schumer and Democratic Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker (the sponsors of the Senate version of the Justice in Policing Act), called the Republican bill "not salvageable" and "so threadbare and lacking in substance that it does not even provide a proper baseline for negotiations."[30] On June 24, 2020, the Senate Republican proposal failed in a procedural vote of 55–45, on a mostly-party line vote, failing to obtain the 60 votes needed to advance to a floor debate,[32] and thus becoming gridlocked.[28] Democrats called upon Republican Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell to enter "bipartisan talks to get to a constructive starting point."[30]
Reintroduction in 2021, second House passage, and renewed deadlock
The bill was introduced in the 117th Congress in February 24, 2021, as H. R. 1280, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021. The bill was sponsored by Bass and co-sponsored by 199 other Representatives (all Democrats).[33] It passed the House on a nearly-party line vote of 220–212 on March 3, 2021.[34][35] No Republicans supported the legislation.[36][a]
The legislation did not advance in the Senate, bipartisan negotiations took place between Bass, Scott, and Booker, but collapsed by September 2021.[36][7] Biden repeatedly pushed for the legislation to be advanced; in his April 2021 speech to Congress, Biden praised bipartisan "productive discussions" on police reform and called upon Congress to send him the bill by the one-year anniversary of Floyd's death.[37][38] In announcing that negotiations had failed, Booker said that the parties were unable to agree about the fate of qualified immunity for police departments and officers and that Republicans were unwilling to agree to a national database to track police misconduct.[7]
Police unions and other organizations representing police oppose the bill.[26] Police organizations are influential in Congress, exerting influence through campaign contributions, endorsements, and lobbying and advocacy efforts, and historically have been successful in stymieing reform legislation.[44]
Then-President Donald Trump opposed the bill, and in 2020, he issued a formal pledge to veto the legislation if it passed Congress and contending that the bill is "overbroad" and would "weaken the ability of law enforcement agencies to reduce crime."[26] Trump specifically opposed proposals to restrict qualified immunity.[10]
Zack Smith of the conservative Heritage Foundatiton contends that the bill uses a faulty definition of "racial profiling" that "would essentially establish a de facto quota system for traffic stops, pedestrian stops, interviews, and other investigatory activities, and could encourage officers and departments to 'game the system' by stopping more individuals with certain types of characteristics—specifically, women, whites, or Asians—than they otherwise would."[45] This criticism has also been echoed by conservative lawyer Peter Kirsanow.[46]
^Lance Gooden, a Republican of Texas, cast the sole Republican "yes" vote on the bill after having "accidentally pressed the wrong voting button and realized it too late"; he later said that he opposed the bill.[35]
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