H.R. 1280 · 117th Congress

George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021

Introduced on Feb 24, 2021 by Karen Bass (D-CA-37). 199 cosponsors, all from the sponsor's party. Latest action (Mar 9, 2021): Received in the Senate.

Stage
Passed one chamber
Introduced
Feb 24, 2021
Cosponsors
199
0 from the other party
Policy area
Crime and Law Enforcement
Open in the Congress explorerCongress.govAlert me

Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To hold law enforcement accountable for misconduct in court, improve transparency through data collection, and reform police training and policies.

Subjects

  • Administrative law and regulatory procedures
  • Administrative remedies
  • Aging
  • Assault and harassment offenses
  • Aviation and airports
  • Border security and unlawful immigration
  • Cardiovascular and respiratory health
  • Child safety and welfare
  • Civil actions and liability
  • Community life and organization
  • Congressional oversight
  • Constitution and constitutional amendments
  • Correctional facilities and imprisonment
  • Crime victims
  • Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
  • Criminal justice information and records
  • Criminal procedure and sentencing
  • Customs enforcement
  • Department of Justice
  • Detention of persons
  • Drug trafficking and controlled substances
  • Due process and equal protection
  • Elementary and secondary education
  • Employee hiring
  • Employee performance
  • Employment and training programs
  • Employment discrimination and employee rights
  • Evidence and witnesses
  • Executive agency funding and structure
  • Firearms and explosives
  • Foreign language and bilingual programs
  • Government ethics and transparency, public corruption
  • Government information and archives
  • Government liability
  • Government studies and investigations
  • Hate crimes
  • Human rights
  • Immigration status and procedures
  • Judicial procedure and administration
  • Juvenile crime and gang violence
  • Labor-management relations
  • Law enforcement administration and funding
  • Law enforcement officers
  • Legal fees and court costs
  • Mental health
  • Military civil functions
  • Military facilities and property
  • Motor vehicles
  • Pedestrians and bicycling
  • Performance measurement
  • Personnel records
  • Photography and imaging
  • Racial and ethnic relations
  • Religion
  • Right of privacy
  • Sex, gender, sexual orientation discrimination
  • Sound recording
  • State and local government operations
  • Telephone and wireless communication
  • Violent crime
  • Women's health

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Passed House, Mar 3, 2021). Public domain.

George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021

This bill addresses a wide range of policies and issues regarding policing practices and law enforcement accountability. It increases accountability for law enforcement misconduct, restricts the use of certain policing practices, enhances transparency and data collection, and establishes best practices and training requirements.

The bill enhances existing enforcement mechanisms to remedy violations by law enforcement. Among other things, it does the following:

  • lowers the criminal intent standard—from willful to knowing or reckless—to convict a law enforcement officer for misconduct in a federal prosecution,
  • limits qualified immunity as a defense to liability in a private civil action against a law enforcement officer, and
  • grants administrative subpoena power to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in pattern-or-practice investigations.

It establishes a framework to prevent and remedy racial profiling by law enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels. It also limits the unnecessary use of force and restricts the use of no-knock warrants, chokeholds, and carotid holds.

The bill creates a national registry—the National Police Misconduct Registry—to compile data on complaints and records of police misconduct. It also establishes new reporting requirements, including on the use of force, officer misconduct, and routine policing practices (e.g., stops and searches).

Finally, it directs DOJ to create uniform accreditation standards for law enforcement agencies and requires law enforcement officers to complete training on racial profiling, implicit bias, and the duty to intervene when another officer uses excessive force.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Karen BassD-CA-37Sponsor

Democrats · 199

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

  1. On Motion to Recommit
    Mar 3, 2021· House· Procedural· Failed 208–219
  2. On Passage
    Mar 3, 2021· House· Passage· Passed 220–212

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Feb 24, 2021Introduced in House
  2. Feb 24, 2021Introduced in House
  3. Feb 24, 2021 · HouseReferred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
  4. Feb 24, 2021 · HouseReferred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
  5. Feb 24, 2021 · HouseReferred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
  6. Feb 25, 2021 · HouseReferred to the Subcommittee on Health.
  7. Mar 1, 2021 · HouseRules Committee Resolution H. Res. 179 Reported to House. Rule provides for consideration of H.R. 1 and H.R. 1280. Rule provides for 1 hour of general debate on H.R. 1 and one motion to recommit. Rule provides for 1 hour of general debate on H.R. 1280 and one motion to recommit.
  8. Mar 1, 2021 · HouseRule H. Res. 179 passed House.
  9. Mar 3, 2021 · HouseConsidered under the provisions of rule H. Res. 179. (consideration: CR H1039-1071)
  10. Mar 3, 2021 · HouseRule provides for consideration of H.R. 1 and H.R. 1280. Rule provides for 1 hour of general debate on H.R. 1 and one motion to recommit. Rule provides for 1 hour of general debate on H.R. 1280 and one motion to recommit.
  11. Mar 3, 2021 · HouseDEBATE - The House proceeded with one hour of debate on H.R. 1280.
  12. Mar 3, 2021 · HouseThe previous question was ordered pursuant to the rule.
  13. Mar 3, 2021 · HouseMs. Malliotakis moved to recommit to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text: CR H1069)
  14. Mar 3, 2021 · HouseThe previous question on the motion to recommit was ordered pursuant to the rule.
  15. Mar 3, 2021 · HouseOn motion to recommit Failed by the Yeas and Nays: 208 - 219 (Roll no. 59).House · Roll call 59
  16. Mar 3, 2021Passed/agreed to in House: On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 220 - 212 (Roll no. 60).(text: CR H1039-1054)House · Roll call 60
  17. Mar 3, 2021 · HouseOn passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 220 - 212 (Roll no. 60). (text: CR H1039-1054)House · Roll call 60
  18. Mar 3, 2021 · HouseMotion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  19. Mar 9, 2021 · SenateReceived in the Senate.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 6, 2026 · loaded Oct 6, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.