Sponsors (11)
The bill improves and makes DHS civil-rights oversight more consistent and transparent by funding permanent staff, but does so with modest added costs and a risk of shifting capacity within DHS.
People who interact with DHS — especially people with disabilities — plus oversight staff and the public, will get more reliable and timely protection and remedies because the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is given permanent staff and resources for sustained oversight, investigations, and remedies.
Congress, the public, and civil-rights stakeholders will keep access to an annual report that preserves transparency about DHS civil-rights oversight activities.
Taxpayers and federal budgets may face higher DHS operating costs because establishing permanent staff and resources could require reallocations or additional appropriations.
Federal employees in other DHS components could see reduced capacity or operational disruption if the new positions are filled by detailees, creating inter-component strain.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to assign permanent staff and resources to the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and renumbers the annual report provision.
Introduced April 10, 2025 by Bennie Thompson · Last progress April 10, 2025
Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to provide permanent staff and resources to the Department’s Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties so that the Officer can carry out duties more effectively. Leaves the existing annual reporting requirement in place (renumbered) and makes a small technical edit to the statutory text.