In response to the killing by Minneapolis police of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, Rep. Karen Bass, MSW (D-CA-37) introduced the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (H.R. 7120). This urgently needed legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives on June 25.
It is now crucial that the Senate enact similar strong and comprehensive legislation to transform policing. Senate legislation must ban chokeholds, no-knock warrants and other lethal practices that are applied without justification and disproportionately to Black and Brown people. Senate legislation should also include other provisions that will end racial profiling, hold law enforcement accountable for misconduct, require the use of body cameras by police officers, incentivize independent investigations into use of excessive force resulting in deaths, improve transparency through data collection, and reform police training and policies.
