Sponsors (32)
Official title: To amend title 10, United States Code, to limit the authority of the Department of Defense and other Federal law enforcement personnel to support civilian law enforcement activities, and for other purposes.
The bill strengthens civilian oversight, transparency, and enforceability to protect civil‑military boundaries and civil liberties, but those safeguards reduce DoD flexibility, add administrative burdens, and raise litigation and fiscal risks that could slow emergency responses and affect local policing capacity.
Civilians and local communities: limits DoD support for civilian law enforcement to 30 days without explicit congressional approval, reducing the risk of prolonged military involvement in domestic policing.
Congress, taxpayers, and local governments: requires advance transparency and accountability (budget, timeline, objectives, 3-year prior-support data, and measurable evaluation metrics) before DoD personnel or equipment support civilian law enforcement, improving oversight of domestic military assistance.
States, private individuals, and courts: creates enforceable rights (state lawsuits, private injunctions/damages) to challenge violations of the Act, increasing judicial oversight and accountability of federal actions.
Local communities, first responders, and DoD: imposing pre‑approval reporting and a 30‑day cap could slow or complicate urgent DoD assistance during fast‑moving emergencies, reducing operational flexibility and possibly delaying lifesaving support.
Federal agencies and taxpayers: expanding private- and state‑level causes of action exposes the government to more litigation and potential damages awards, increasing legal costs and fiscal liability.
Local police forces and communities: requiring active‑duty service members to relinquish civilian law‑enforcement roles can reduce available local policing staff and cause income/career disruption for affected service members.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Limits DOD support to civilian law enforcement to 30 days without congressional approval, bars dual military/civilian-law-enforcement service for DOD personnel, requires presidential notification, and creates a private right of action.
Introduced December 9, 2025 by Sam T. Liccardo · Last progress December 9, 2025
Limits Department of Defense participation in domestic policing by requiring the President to notify and justify any DOD support to civilian law enforcement, caps such support at 30 days unless Congress approves an extension, bars DOD personnel from simultaneously serving in civilian law enforcement (with a narrow reserve-member exception), removes a phrase about responding to "civil disturbance" from a related statute, and creates a private right of action allowing suit against the federal government for violations of the Act. The bill changes statutory authorities for military support to civilians, sets a fast congressional process to approve longer deployments, requires detailed pre-deployment reporting, imposes new personnel conflict rules for active-duty and reserve members, and gives individuals and governments the ability to seek injunctive relief and damages in federal court for violations.