4th District Congressman Jim Himes has voted for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act which passed the U.S. House yesterday. 

He says the comprehensive legislative package would reform policing, hold bad actors accountable, and help mend the relationship between law enforcement agencies and local communities. 

The measure also makes lynching a federal crime, and limits and regulates  the federal transfer of military weapons and equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies.  Himes notes that the bill makes it easier to prosecute police misconduct, reforms qualified immunity so that victims can recover damages when police violate their constitutional rights and provides grants to states that adopt laws that mandate external and independent criminal investigations and prosecutions in cases of police misconduct.  

5th District Congresswoman Jahana Hayes says it develops national training standards and requires greater accountability and transparency. The bill also bans chokeholds, ends no-knock warrants, and ends racial profiling.