Congressman Steven Horsford Introduces House Resolution Condemning Police Brutality Following Murder of George Floyd

Las Vegas, Nev. -- Today, Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-04) joined Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Ilhan Omar (MN-05), in partnership with Congresswoman Karen Bass (CA-37), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13), in introducing a resolution to condemn police brutality, racial profiling and the excessive use of force. The resolution comes after the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, as well as the recent murder of Breonna Taylor by police in Louisville, Kentucky and the countless other lives robbed by police violence.

"I'm tired of hearing news of another unarmed black man being killed at the hands of the police. George Floyd, and so many others like him, should still be alive today. With this resolution, we are working toward a world where Black men, women, and children will be treated with equity by law enforcement," said Congressman Horsford. "While Americans across the country protest these thoughtless deaths, this is one step in many that Congress must take to bring accountability and justice to the many families who have lost loved ones due to racial biases in policing."

Congressman Horsford and more than 90 of his colleagues support the resolution, which will call on the House of Representatives to condemn all acts of police brutality, racial profiling and excessive use of force. The resolution calls for the adoption of reforms and policies at all levels of government to end these injustices including:

1. Efforts to improve oversight and independent investigations to hold individual law enforcement officers and police departments accountable
2. Calling on the Department of Justice to reassert its statutory authority to investigate individual instances of racial profiling, police brutality and violence and investigate and litigate individual law enforcement officers and police departments routinely violating civil rights;
3. Supporting efforts to establishing all-civilian review boards with the authority to investigate incidents of police misconduct to ensure community-level oversight, accountability, and disciplinary action of police officers; and
4. The adoption of sound and unbiased law enforcement policies at all levels of government that reduce the disparate impact of police brutality, racial profiling and use of force on Black and Brown people and other historically marginalized communities.

The legislation is endorsed by: The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Action Network, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, ACLU, ACLU of Massachusetts, ACLU of Minnesota, The Justice Collaborative, Color of Change, The National Urban League, Lawyers for Civil Rights, Black and Pink, Boston Chapter, Center for Popular Democracy, Moms Rising, Drug Policy Alliance, New Florida Majority, PolicyLink, The National Black Police Association, and The Vera Institute of Justice.

The Congressman also cosponsors H.R.125, the Police Training and Independent Review Act. This bill authorizes the Department of Justice to award grants to states that require law enforcement officers to be trained on diversity and sensitivity, and require an independent prosecutor to be appointed to investigate and prosecute an alleged offense involving the use of deadly force by a law enforcement officer that results in a death or injury. The Congressman initially cosponsored this legislation during his first term in office.

Legislative text can be found here and a summary can be found here.