Sponsors (136)
Official title: To hold law enforcement accountable for misconduct in court, improve transparency through data collection, and reform police training and policies.
Introduced September 15, 2025 by Glenn Ivey · Last progress September 15, 2025
The bill substantially increases federal oversight, transparency, and accountability of policing—strengthening civil‑rights enforcement and limiting militarization—while imposing significant compliance costs, potential loss of federal grant funding, greater liability for officers, and privacy/federalism tradeoffs for state, local, tribal governments and communities.
All Americans — especially communities affected by police use-of-force — will gain far greater transparency and public accountability via a searchable national registry and standardized, disaggregated reporting on stops, uses of force, deaths in custody, and officer discipline.
Victims and the public — particularly racial and religious minorities — will have stronger federal civil‑rights enforcement: lower criminal mens rea thresholds for certain §242 prosecutions, limits on qualified‑immunity/good‑faith defenses in civil suits, expanded DOJ subpoena/enforcement authority, and clearer causation rules that make accountability more attainable.
People targeted by policing, and the public generally, receive a federal prohibition on racial profiling plus statutory remedies and funded training/technical support to reduce biased policing and improve police–community interactions.
State and local governments and police agencies will face substantial new administrative and operational costs to collect, audit, retain and submit quarterly/annual disaggregated data, maintain inventories of transferred property, manage bodycam/public‑record requests, and meet expanded reporting requirements.
Jurisdictions that fail to enact required policies or meet reporting/accreditation standards risk cuts to Byrne/COPS and other DOJ grant funding (including up to 10%), which could reduce resources for public safety in already resource-constrained places.
Law enforcement officers and departments face greater civil and criminal exposure and fewer defenses (e.g., narrowed qualified immunity, lower mens rea), which could raise litigation and insurance costs and worsen recruitment/retention in policing.
Based on analysis of 14 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a DOJ national misconduct registry, tightens criminal/civil liability for officers, conditions Byrne/COPS grants on reporting/certification, restricts excess equipment transfers, and criminalizes sexual acts under color of law.
Creates a DOJ-run national police misconduct registry, tightens criminal and civil liability standards for law enforcement, and conditions federal Byrne and COPS grant funding on reporting, certification, and compliance with anti-profiling and other accountability requirements. It also restricts transfers of certain military-style equipment to civilian agencies, creates a federal offense for sexual acts by persons acting under color of law, and increases data collection and audit obligations for grantees. Implements reporting deadlines and rulemaking timelines (many beginning 180 days to one year after enactment), authorizes DOJ technical-assistance grants, expands subpoena authority for enforcement actions, and preserves existing civil-rights remedies and tribal protections while changing defenses and mens rea standards in key civil-rights and criminal provisions.