The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a police reform bill that would prohibit strangulation and review qualified immunity protections for police officers.
George Floyd’s Policing Justice Act, HR 1280, was passed 220-212 – although a Republican representative said he voted yes by mistake and changed the official record to reflect his opposition.
Republican MP Lance Gooden, R-Texas, tweeted that he hit the wrong button and voted in favor of the bill by accident.
A version of the bill passed last year, but came to a halt in the then Republican-controlled Senate. The House bill approved on Wednesday night still needs to go to the Senate, where it will need at least 10 Republican votes to pass.
The bill is named after Floyd, the black man who died on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for minutes. That officer, Derek Chauvin, was fired and faces charges of second-degree murder and wrongful death. His trial and jury selection are scheduled to start on Monday.
The bill, among other things, would prohibit neck restrictions and preventive arrest warrants at the federal level. It would also reform qualified immunity, which is a doctrine that makes it difficult to prosecute police officers.
Some places have already adopted such measures. Last year, Colorado ended qualifying defense immunity for officers in state courts.
The Biden government on Monday gave its support to the bill. The White House said that trust between law enforcement officials and communities cannot be rebuilt unless law enforcement officials are held responsible for abuses of power.
Congresswoman Karen Bass, D-Calif., Who introduced the bill, is confident that they will be able to work with the Senate and pass it. She said that, after the last bill was passed, “many of our Republican colleagues said they thought they could reach a yes on this, but they had some difficulties.”
“One of the things that has happened in the past 12 months, however, is that many states have moved on without us and have started to approve reforms,” said Bass. “So this time, when we sit down to meet, we can talk about the reforms that are already in place.”
Floyd family lawyers Benjamin Crump and Antonio Romanucci said that on behalf of the family “we are deeply gratified and grateful” for the House’s leadership and urged the Senate to approve the bill.
“This represents a major step forward to reform the relationship between police and communities of color and to impose responsibility on police whose conscious decisions preserve life or cause the death of Americans, including so many people of color,” they said in a demonstration.
