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Fighting for Racial Justice

From George Floyd to Oscar Grant to Eric Garner to Sandra Bland to Breonna Taylor and so many others, the list of unarmed Black people who have been killed by law enforcement officers in recent years is long and outrageous.

Rep. Lofgren believes police officers must be held accountable for excessive use of force and there must be an end to policies that result in needless deaths.

Zoe has consistently supported reform efforts advocated for by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and other organizations that lead on safety and equitable law enforcement policies. Zoe is an original cosponsor of the Justice in Policing Act of 2021, a comprehensive police reform bill supported by the CBC and civil rights organizations.

Listening to You

Rep. Lofgren knows the fight against racism and for equal justice under law should unite all Americans.

She finds strength from the input of others, so please feel free to share your story or perspective with Zoe:

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Legislating for You


H.R. 1280, THE GEORGE FLOYD JUSTICE IN POLICING ACT

Rep. Lofgren is a co-sponsor of this comprehensive bill, which the House passed on March 3, 2021. The Act would:

  • Hold police accountable in our courts by:
    • Amending the mens rea requirement in 18 U.S.C. Section 242, the federal criminal statute to prosecute police misconduct, from "willfulness" to a "recklessness" standard;
    • Reforming qualified immunity so that individuals are not entirely barred from recovering damages when police violate their constitutional rights;
    • Improving the use of pattern and practice investigations at the federal level by granting the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division subpoena power and incentivizing state attorneys general to conduct pattern and practice investigations;
    • Incentivizing states to create independent investigative structures for police involved deaths through grants; and
    • Creating best practices recommendations based on the Obama 21st Century Policing Task force.
  • Improve transparency into policing by collecting better and more accurate data of police misconduct and use-of-force by:
    • Creating a National Police Misconduct Registry to prevent problem-officers from changing jurisdictions to avoid accountability; and
    • Mandating that state and local law enforcement agencies report use of force data, disaggregated by race, sex, disability, religion, age.
  • Improve police training and practices by:
    • Ending racial and religious profiling;
    • Mandating training on racial bias and the duty to intervene;
    • Banning no-knock warrants in drug cases;
    • Banning chokeholds and carotid holds;
    • Changing the standard to evaluate whether law enforcement use of force was justified from whether the force was reasonable to whether the force was necessary;
    • Limiting the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement;
    • Requiring federal uniformed police officers to wear body cameras; and
    • Requiring state and local law enforcement to use existing federal funds to ensure the use of police body cameras.
  • Make lynching a federal crime by:
    • Making it a federal crime to conspire to violate existing federal hate crimes laws.

Click here for a detailed fact sheet about the bill.

Supporting Equitable Reform

In the 116th Congress, Rep. Lofgren cosponsored the following legislation to establish safe and equitable law enforcement policies:

H.RES. 988, TO CONDEMN POLICE BRUTALITY

Condemns police brutality and racial profiling and calls for the end of militarized policing and the use of excessive force by law enforcement.

Click here for more information.


H.R. 4408, THE ERIC GARNER EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE PREVENTION ACT

Makes the use of chokeholds and other neck restraints by police officers illegal under federal civil rights law.

Click here for more information.


H.R. 125, THE POLICE TRAINING AND INDEPENDENT REVIEW ACT

Requires states to provide diversity and sensitivity training to law enforcement officers, and to use independent prosecutors to investigate and prosecute instances of police use of deadly force.

Click here for more information.


H.R. 1714, THE STOP MILITARIZING LAW ENFORCEMENT ACT

Restricts the transfer of aggressive military equipment to local law enforcement agencies.

Click here for more information.


H.R. 4359, POLICE EXERCISING ABSOLUTE CARE FOR EVERYONE (PEACE) ACT

Mandates federal law enforcement use deadly force as a last resort, and conditions federal funding for state and local law enforcement agencies on implementing the same policy.

Click here for more information.

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