The bill bans chokeholds, and would end qualified immunity for police officers.
Sean Collins at Vox:
The House of Representatives has passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Bill of 2021 — legislation Democratic lawmakers believe will reduce police violence against people of color, particularly Black Americans, while also improving policing for everyone.
“At some point, we have to ask ourselves, how many more people have to die? How many more people have to be brutalized on videotape?” Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), who led the bill, said ahead of its passage. “We must act now to transform policing in the United States.”
The bill, which succeeded largely on partisan lines, 220 to 212, with one Republican voting with the Democratic majority has been passed before.
In June 2020, House Democrats crafted identical legislation in response to the worldwide demonstrations against police brutality that were sparked by the killing of George Floyd by Minnesota policeman Derek Chauvin, and that were sustained by the deaths of dozens of other Black Americans, including Breonna Taylor, Daniel Prude, and Rayshard Brooks.
Since then, police violence against Black Americans has not waned. In the first few months of 2021, police have killed at least 23 Black Americans; prominent incidents of violence include an officer in Rochester, New York pepper spraying a handcuffed 9-year-old girl, and police killing 52-year-old Patrick Lynn Warren following a mental health 911 call placed on his behalf.
One provision in the bill addresses qualified immunity, a legal precedent that gives government officials, including police officers, broad protections against lawsuits. Among other things, the bill would also create a national database of police misconduct, and require federal law enforcement officials to use body and dash cameras. To curtail deaths, the legislation bans federal law enforcement from using chokeholds like the one that ended Floyd’s life, and from using no-knock warrants in drug cases — Taylor was killed when police burst into her home using such a warrant in in March 2020.
Police reformers critical of the bill have questioned whether it would be effective, noting that most of its provisions make changes only at the federal level — the federal government has very little control over how state and local governments choose to police their populations.
“This legislation, while vitally important, is not perfect,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which backs the bill. “No legislation is. But it represents meaningful progress, and we intend to continue working with lawmakers to strengthen and build upon it.”
Before the bill can be expanded upon, though, it has to pass the Senate — and its success there is uncertain.
Republicans favor a more limited police reform proposal from Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) that Democrats dismissed as too small in scope. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) is proposing an amendment to the George Floyd bill along with Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) that would track the costs of police misconduct settlements.
Now Democrats are in charge of the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is “committed” to the bill, Kaine said, and Schumer recently told reporters, “I’m putting bills on the floor. People are going to be forced to vote on them, yes or no.”
Bass told reporters that Democrats have been in conversation with Scott, but whether the Democratic caucus can find the 10 Republican votes it needs to get the bill through the Senate remains to be seen. But given the difficulty Democrats have had so far in this Congress winning Republican support for nominees and Covid-19 relief, winning over 10 GOP senators may be a tall order.
The House passed the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act 220-212, with 2 Dems (Kind, Golden) voting NO and 1 GOPer (Gooden) voting YES. Its next stop is the Senate floor, in which passage is very difficult due to the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
The bill seeks to significantly reform police, such as a ban on chokeholds and ending qualified immunity.