Tucson Sentinel: After Biden budget, Is federal police reform dead?
Members of Congress have offered no shortage of ideas in recent years for reforming policing in America.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., proposed the Eric Garner Excessive Use of Force Prevention Act in 2019 to make constricting a person’s airway a civil rights offense. The same year, Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., promoted the use of de-escalation techniques with the Preventing Tragedies Between Police and Communities Act.
Since George Floyd’s murder in 2020, federal lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have proposed legislation to address police behavior: Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., reintroduced a bill that provides funding for anti-bias training. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act from Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., offered sweeping changes to officer accountability and limitations on use of force. In response, Republican Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina proposed the JUSTICE (Just and Unifying Solutions to Invigorate Communities Everywhere) Act, which includes reforming police hiring practices and funding training that would end the practice of chokeholds.
But in every case, the reform efforts have stalled or failed.
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Inimai Chettiar, the federal director for the Justice Action Network, said that while “there doesn’t seem to be an agreement with qualified immunity,” her organization has been combing through Scott’s and Bass’ bills to find overlapping measures to encourage lawmakers to come up with bipartisan legislation.
Chettiar’s organization, which focuses on bipartisan criminal justice reform solutions, supports Republican Indiana Sen. Mike Braun’s Reforming Qualified Immunity Act, which would “reinstate the original qualified immunity standard.” The bill would not protect officials when sued if they were found to have violated one’s constitutional rights, or federal and/or state laws.