A trio of bipartisan lawmakers leading negotiations on a comprehensive police reform package have reached a preliminary bipartisan agreement on the issue, they announced on June 24, bringing them one stop closer to passing the major bill.
“After months of working in good faith, we have reached an agreement on a framework addressing the major issues for bipartisan police reform,” the lawmakers said. “There is still more work to be done on the final bill, and nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to.”
“Over the next few weeks, we look forward to continuing our work toward getting a finalized proposal across the finish line,” they added.
The lawmakers did not give further details on the terms of their agreement and what exactly was in the framework.
The proposed laws would ban police tactics such as chokeholds and no-knock warrants, lower the legal standard required to convict an officer for misconduct, establish guidelines for police departments nationwide, and create national standards for policing in a bid to bolster accountability.
It would also prohibit “qualified immunity,” the powerful legal doctrine that shields law enforcement and other public officials from liability in civil lawsuits.
At the time, Biden said he had hoped that Congress would pass the reform effort by the first anniversary of Floyd’s death in late May.
GOP lawmakers have argued that “qualified immunity” is necessary and that any effort to remove it would further complicate police work and hurt recruiting efforts.
Meanwhile, some civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers have said that the changes are necessary to ensure accountability among law enforcement officers.
Scott had told reporters on Wednesday that the group is now just focused on the language contained in the bill.
“We’re gonna have to now check the definitions and the language that we’re all putting on paper and make sure that we’re all saying the exact same thing, but I don’t think there’s outstanding issues that need to be worked out, we just need to agree on the actual language we’re using,” he said.
Durbin had a different point of view though, and noted that there was much more to negotiate than just the language.
“We felt that way several days ago. But then when you get the staff in the room, they need to have pretty explicit instructions as to what we agreed on, so we have to ask a few more questions, answer before we can reach that point,” Durbin said.
Thursday’s announcement came on the day before the Senate leaves for its two-week July Fourth recess, and also the day before Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering Floyd, is scheduled to be sentenced.