Press Releases

Rep. Don Beyer today hailed the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act by the House of Representatives. The bill, which passed this evening, is one of the most ambitious federal reforms of law enforcement powers in history.

“The George Floyd Justice In Policing Act is a step towards justice and accountability. We cannot bring George Floyd or Breonna Taylor or Eric Garner or Tamir Rice back, but we owe it to them and the many others who should not have died to try to stop it from happening again,” said Beyer. “All lives will not matter until Black lives matter. I thank the Congressional Black Caucus for their leadership drafting strong, ambitious legislation that our country needs.”

The bill included legislation Beyer drafted with D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to require uniformed federal officers to wear body cameras and use mounted dashboard cameras in marked vehicles. That legislation was inspired by the still-unexplained killing of 25-year-old Bijan Ghaisar by U.S. Park Police in Beyer’s legislation.

The George Floyd Justice In Policing Act would make sweeping reforms to curb police brutality and racial profiling, address systemic racism, and increase transparency for law enforcement, including:

• A ban on police chokeholds;
• Banning no-knock warrants;
• An end to the qualified immunity doctrine that is a barrier to holding police officers accountable for wrongful conduct;
• A mandate for data collection, including body cameras and dashboard cameras; and
• Establishes new standards for policing.

Full text of the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act is available here.