Banning Rubber Bullets Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8823 To prohibit the use of nonlethal rounds by Federal law enforcement officers in certain contexts, and to discourage the use of such munitions by State and local law enforcement officers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 27, 2020 Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. RASKIN, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, and Ms. OMAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To prohibit the use of nonlethal rounds by Federal law enforcement officers in certain contexts, and to discour- age the use of such munitions by State and local law enforcement officers, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Banning Rubber Bul- 4 lets Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. IN GENERAL. 6 (a) PROHIBITION ON USE BY FEDERAL OFFICERS.— 7 A Federal law enforcement officer may not use a nonlethal 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Dec 03, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8823.IH H8823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8823 IH round in any crowd control situation, or in response to 1 passive resistance by a person to any order given by that 2 officer. On each occasion that a Federal law enforcement 3 officer uses a nonlethal round, the agency employing such 4 officer shall submit notice to the Attorney General and 5 to the Congressional committee with jurisdiction over that 6 agency. In any case where a law enforcement officer uses 7 a nonlethal round in violation of this subsection, any per- 8 son injured by such use may bring a civil action for appro- 9 priate relief. 10 (b) DISCOURAGING USE BY STATE AND LOCAL OFFI- 11 CERS.— 12 (1) LIMITING USE OF NONLETHAL ROUNDS RE- 13 QUIREMENT.—For each fiscal year after the expira- 14 tion of the period specified in paragraph (2) in 15 which a State or unit of local government receives 16 a grant under part E of title I of the Omnibus 17 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 18 U.S.C. 3750 et seq.) or part Q of such title, the 19 State or unit of local government shall conform its 20 laws with the following: 21 (A) A law enforcement officer of that State 22 or unit of local government may not use a non- 23 lethal round in a crowd control situation, or in 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Dec 03, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8823.IH H8823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8823 IH response to passive resistance by a person to 1 any order given by that officer. 2 (B) On any occasion a law enforcement of- 3 ficer of that State or unit of local government 4 uses a nonlethal round, that State or unit of 5 local government shall submit a report to the 6 Attorney General. 7 (C) In any case where a law enforcement 8 officer uses a nonlethal round in violation of 9 subparagraph (A), any person injured by such 10 use may bring a civil action for appropriate re- 11 lief against the agency employing the law en- 12 forcement officer. 13 (2) COMPLIANCE AND INELIGIBILITY.— 14 (A) COMPLIANCE DATE.—Beginning on 15 the first full fiscal year after the date of enact- 16 ment of this Act, each State or unit of local 17 government referred to in paragraph (1) receiv- 18 ing a grant shall comply with paragraph (1), 19 except that the Attorney General may grant an 20 additional 180 days to a State or unit of local 21 government that is making good faith efforts to 22 comply with such paragraph. 23 (B) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—For any 24 fiscal year after the expiration of the period 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Dec 03, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8823.IH H8823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8823 IH specified in subparagraph (A), a State or unit 1 of local government that fails to comply with 2 paragraph (1), shall, at the discretion of the At- 3 torney General, be subject to a reduction of not 4 more than 15 percent of the funds that would 5 otherwise be allocated for that fiscal year to the 6 State or unit of local government under— 7 (i) subpart 1 of part E of title I of the 8 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 9 Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 et seq.), 10 whether characterized as the Edward 11 Byrne Memorial State and Local Law En- 12 forcement Assistance Programs, the Local 13 Government Law Enforcement Block 14 Grants Program, the Edward Byrne Me- 15 morial Justice Assistance Grant Program, 16 or otherwise; and 17 (ii) part Q of such title (34 U.S.C. 18 10381 et seq.). 19 (3) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated 20 under a program referred to in paragraph (2)(B)(i) 21 to a State for failure to fully comply with paragraph 22 (1) shall be reallocated under that program to States 23 that have not failed to comply with such paragraph. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Dec 03, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8823.IH H8823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8823 IH (c) INVESTIGATION.—The Attorney General shall in- 1 vestigate and publish a report on the results of such inves- 2 tigation in the case of any use of nonlethal rounds by a 3 Federal, State, or local law enforcement officer. 4 (d) DEFINITIONS.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Terms used in this Act have 6 the meanings given such terms in section 901 of title 7 I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 8 Act of 1968. 9 (2) FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.— 10 The term ‘‘Federal law enforcement officer’’ 11 means— 12 (A) an employee or officer in a position in 13 the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of 14 the Federal Government who is authorized by 15 law to engage in or supervise a law enforcement 16 function; or 17 (B) an employee or officer of a contractor 18 or subcontractor (at any tier) of an agency in 19 the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of 20 the Federal Government who is authorized by 21 law or under the contract with the agency to 22 engage in or supervise a law enforcement func- 23 tion. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Dec 03, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8823.IH H8823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8823 IH (3) NONLETHAL ROUND.—The term ‘‘nonlethal 1 round’’ means a projectile fired from a gun, gun- 2 like, or other apparatus used with the intension to 3 apply nonlethal force, or for an intension other than 4 killing the intended or unintended target, and in- 5 cludes— 6 (A) rubber bullets; 7 (B) plastic bullets; 8 (C) bullets with metal core or metal exter- 9 nal shell; 10 (D) bullets made with hardened foam; 11 (E) beanbag bullets; and 12 (F) sponge bullets. 13 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 14 tion may be construed as permitting or encouraging law 15 enforcement to use any other type of bullet in crowd con- 16 trol situations. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Dec 03, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8823.IH H8823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS