ERRPA — CivicLens

Federal

ERRPA

Source: Congress.gov · 4,407 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill prohibits law enforcement officers and agencies from using a person's race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation when deciding who to stop, question, or search. The bill requires federal law enforcement agencies to create policies against racial profiling and requires state and local agencies that receive certain federal law enforcement funding to do the same. The bill also requires law enforcement agencies to collect data on traffic stops and searches to track whether racial profiling is happening. ##

Who It Affects

- Federal law enforcement officers and agencies - State and local police departments - Tribal law enforcement agencies - People stopped or searched by law enforcement - Anyone applying for federal law enforcement grants - The Department of Justice - Congress ##

Key Provisions

- Law enforcement officers and agencies cannot use race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation when deciding who to stop or search, except when information links a specific person to a specific crime (Sec. 101) - People harmed by racial profiling can file lawsuits in state or federal court seeking court orders to stop the illegal practice or for other court relief (Sec. 102) - Federal law enforcement agencies must create policies and training programs to eliminate racial profiling and must set up complaint procedures for people who say they were profiled (Sec. 201) - State and local law enforcement agencies that want federal law enforcement grants must certify they have policies against racial profiling and must participate in a complaint process or independent audit program (Sec. 301) - The Attorney General must create rules within six months for how law enforcement agencies should collect data on all traffic stops and searches, broken down by race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, and religion (Sec. 401) - Law enforcement agencies must keep this data for at least four years and submit it to the Department of Justice (Sec. 401) - The Attorney General can award up to five grants for a two-year project to test data collection methods in communities with significant racial or ethnic minorities (Sec. 303) - The Attorney General can award grants to states and local police departments to develop training programs and technology to prevent racial profiling (Sec. 304) ##

What Changes

If this bill becomes law, law enforcement officers will no longer legally be able to base investigative decisions on a person's race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Federal law enforcement agencies must create anti-profiling policies within a specified timeframe. State and local agencies seeking federal law enforcement funding will have 12 months after the bill passes to create these same policies or lose their federal funding. All law enforcement agencies will need to track and report data on traffic stops and searches by the person's perceived race and ethnicity. The Department of Justice will analyze this data annually to look for unfair patterns. People who believe they were profiled can sue in court. Grants will be available to help agencies develop training and technology to prevent profiling. ##

Important Definitions

**Racial profiling**: When a law enforcement officer uses a person's actual or perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation in any way when deciding who to stop or what to do during an investigation. This does not apply if police have trustworthy information connecting someone's particular characteristic to a specific crime in that area at that time. **Hit rate**: The percentage of stops and searches where police find drugs, guns, or something else that leads to an arrest. It is calculated by dividing the number of searches that found something by the total number of searches. **Routine or spontaneous investigatory activities**: Police actions including interviews, traffic stops, pedestrian stops, body searches, searches of property or vehicles, data analysis, border inspections, workplace investigations related to immigration, and other law enforcement encounters. **Law enforcement agent**: Any federal, state, local, or tribal official responsible for enforcing criminal, immigration, or customs laws, including police officers. **Law enforcement agency**: Any federal, state, local, or tribal public agency that prevents, detects, or investigates violations of criminal, immigration, or customs laws. **Covered program**: Any program or activity funded by the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program or the "Cops on the Beat" program (with specific exceptions). ##

Effective Date

Section 301 takes effect 12 months after the bill is signed into law. The Attorney General must issue data collection regulations and complaint procedure rules within six months of the bill passing. The Attorney General must submit the first report on racial profiling to Congress within two years of the bill passing. All other provisions take effect upon the bill becoming law unless otherwise stated. Not specified in bill text for most other provisions.

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1084 To eliminate racial, religious, and other discriminatory profiling by law enforcement, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 30, 2023 Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. VAN HOL- LEN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. LUJA´N, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To eliminate racial, religious, and other discriminatory profiling by law enforcement, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘End Racial and Religious Profiling Act of 2023’’ or 5 ‘‘ERRPA’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 7 this Act is as follows: 8 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definitions. VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Apr 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S1084.IS S1084 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1084 IS TITLE I—PROHIBITION OF RACIAL PROFILING Sec. 101. Prohibition. Sec. 102. Enforcement. TITLE II—PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE RACIAL PROFILING BY FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES Sec. 201. Policies to eliminate racial profiling. TITLE III—PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE RACIAL PROFILING BY STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES Sec. 301. Policies required for grants. Sec. 302. Involvement of Attorney General. Sec. 303. Data collection demonstration project. Sec. 304. Best practices development grants. Sec. 305. Authorization of appropriations. TITLE IV—DATA COLLECTION Sec. 401. Attorney General to issue regulations. Sec. 402. Publication of data. Sec. 403. Limitations on publication of data. TITLE V—DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REGULATIONS AND REPORTS ON RACIAL PROFILING IN THE UNITED STATES Sec. 501. Attorney General to issue regulations and reports. TITLE VI—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS Sec. 601. Severability. Sec. 602. Savings clause. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) COVERED PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘covered 3 program’’ means any program or activity funded in 4 whole or in part with funds made available under— 5 (A) the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice 6 Assistance Grant Program under subpart I of 7 part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 8 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 9 et seq.); and 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Apr 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1084.IS S1084 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1084 IS (B) the ‘‘Cops on the Beat’’ program 1 under part Q of title I of the Omnibus Crime 2 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 3 U.S.C. 10381 et seq.), except that no program, 4 project, or other activity specified in section 5 1701(b)(13) of such part shall be a covered 6 program under this paragraph. 7 (2) GOVERNMENTAL BODY.—The term ‘‘govern- 8 mental body’’ means any department, agency, special 9 purpose district, or other instrumentality of Federal, 10 State, local, or Tribal government. 11 (3) HIT RATE.—The term ‘‘hit rate’’ means the 12 percentage of stops and searches in which a law en- 13 forcement officer finds drugs, a gun, or something 14 else that leads to an arrest. The hit rate is cal- 15 culated by dividing the total number of searches by 16 the number of searches that yield contraband. The 17 hit rate is complementary to the rate of false stops. 18 (4) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 19 has the meaning given the ‘‘Indian tribe’’ term in 20 section 102 of the Federally Recognized Indian 21 Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5130). 22 (5) LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.—The term 23 ‘‘law enforcement agency’’ means any Federal, 24 State, local, or Tribal public agency engaged in the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Apr 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1084.IS S1084 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 1084 IS prevention, detection, or investigation of violations of 1 criminal, immigration, or customs laws. 2 (6) LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENT.—The term 3 ‘‘law enforcement agent’’ means any Federal, State, 4 local, or Tribal official responsible for enforcing 5 criminal, immigration, or customs laws, including 6 police officers and other agents of a law enforcement 7 agency. 8 (7) RACIAL PROFILING.—The term ‘‘racial 9 profiling’’ means the practice of a law enforcement 10 agent or agency relying, to any degree, on actual or 11 perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, 12 gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation in se- 13 lecting which individual to subject to routine or 14 spontaneous investigatory activities or in deciding 15 upon the scope and substance of law enforcement ac- 16 tivity following the initial investigatory procedure, 17 except when there is trustworthy information, rel- 18 evant to the locality and timeframe, that links a per- 19 son with a particular characteristic described in this 20 paragraph to an identified criminal incident or 21 scheme. 22 (8) ROUTINE OR SPONTANEOUS INVESTIGATORY 23 ACTIVITIES.—The term ‘‘routine or spontaneous in- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Apr 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1084.IS S1084 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 1084 IS vestigatory activities’’ means the following activities 1 by a law enforcement agent: 2 (A) Interviews. 3 (B) Traffic stops. 4 (C) Pedestrian stops. 5 (D) Frisks and other types of body 6 searches. 7 (E) Consensual or nonconsensual searches 8 of the persons, property, or possessions (includ- 9 ing vehicles) of individuals using any form of 10 public or private transportation, including mo- 11 torists and pedestrians. 12 (F) Data collection and analysis, assess- 13 ments, and predicated investigations. 14 (G) Inspections and interviews of entrants 15 into the United States that are more extensive 16 than those customarily carried out. 17 (H) Immigration-related workplace inves- 18 tigations. 19 (I) Such other types of law enforcement 20 encounters compiled for or by the Federal Bu- 21 reau of Investigation or the Bureau of Justice 22 Statistics. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Apr 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1084.IS S1084 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 1084 IS (9) REASONABLE REQUEST.—The term ‘‘rea- 1 sonable request’’ means all requests for information, 2 except for those that— 3 (A) are immaterial to the investigation; 4 (B) would result in the unnecessary disclo- 5 sure of personal information; or 6 (C) would place a severe burden on the re- 7 sources of the law enforcement agency given its 8 size. 9 (10) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 10 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com- 11 monwealth of Puerto Rico, and any other territory 12 or possession of the United States. 13 (11) UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term 14 ‘‘unit of local government’’ means— 15 (A) any city, county, township, town, bor- 16 ough, parish, village, or other general purpose 17 political subdivision of a State; 18 (B) any law enforcement district or judicial 19 enforcement district that— 20 (i) is established under applicable 21 State law; and 22 (ii) has the authority to, in a manner 23 independent of other State entities, estab- 24 lish a budget and impose taxes; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Apr 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1084.IS S1084 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 1084 IS (C) any Indian Tribe that performs law 1 enforcement functions, as determined by the 2 Secretary of the Interior. 3 TITLE I—PROHIBITION OF 4 RACIAL PROFILING 5 SEC. 101. PROHIBITION. 6 No law enforcement agent or law enforcement agency 7 shall engage in racial profiling. 8 SEC. 102. ENFORCEMENT. 9 (a) REMEDY.—The United States, or an individual 10 injured by racial profiling, may enforce this title in a civil 11 action for declaratory or injunctive relief, filed either in 12 a State court of general jurisdiction or in a district court 13 of the United States. 14 (b) PARTIES.—In any action brought under this title, 15 relief may be obtained against— 16 (1) any governmental body that employed any 17 law enforcement agent who engaged in racial 18 profiling; 19 (2) any agent of such body who engaged in ra- 20 cial profiling; and 21 (3) any person with supervisory authority over 22 such agent. 23 (c) NATURE OF PROOF.—Proof that the routine or 24 spontaneous investigatory activities of law enforcement 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Apr 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1084.IS S1084 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 1084 IS agents in a jurisdiction have had a disparate impact on 1 individuals with a particular characteristic described in 2 section 2(7) shall constitute prima facie evidence of a vio- 3 lation of this title. 4 (d) ATTORNEY’S FEES.—In any action or proceeding 5 to enforce this title against any governmental body, the 6 court may allow a prevailing plaintiff, other than the 7 United States, reasonable attorney’s fees as part of the 8 costs, and may include expert fees as part of the attorney’s 9 fee. 10 TITLE II—PROGRAMS TO ELIMI- 11 NATE RACIAL PROFILING BY 12 FEDERAL LAW ENFORCE- 13 MENT AGENCIES 14 SEC. 201. POLICIES TO ELIMINATE RACIAL PROFILING. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Federal law enforcement agencies 16 shall— 17 (1) maintain adequate policies and procedures 18 designed to eliminate racial profiling; and 19 (2) cease existing practices that permit racial 20 profiling. 21 (b) POLICIES.—The policies and procedures de- 22 scribed in subsection (a)(1) shall include— 23 (1) a prohibition on racial profiling; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Apr 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1084.IS S1084 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 1084 IS (2) training on racial profiling issues as part of 1 Federal law enforcement training; 2 (3) the collection of data in accordance with the 3 regulations issued by the Attorney General under 4 section 401; 5 (4) procedures for receiving, investigating, and 6 responding meaningfully to complaints alleging ra- 7 cial profiling by law enforcement agents; and 8 (5) any other policies and procedures the Attor- 9 ney General determines to be necessary to eliminate 10 racial profiling by Federal law enforcement agencies. 11 TITLE III—PROGRAMS TO ELIMI- 12 NATE RACIAL PROFILING BY 13 STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL 14 LAW ENFORCEMENT AGEN- 15 CIES 16 SEC. 301. POLICIES REQUIRED FOR GRANTS. 17 (a) IN GENERAL.—An application by a State, a unit 18 of local government, or a State, local, or Tribal law en- 19 forcement agency for funding under a covered program 20 shall include a certification that such State, unit of local 21 government, or law enforcement agency, and any law en- 22 forcement agency to which it will distribute funds— 23 (1) maintains adequate policies and procedures 24 designed to eliminate racial profiling; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Apr 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1084.IS S1084 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 1084 IS (2) has eliminated any existing practices that 1 permit or encourage racial profiling. 2 (b) POLICIES.—The policies and procedures de- 3 scribed in subsection (a)(1) shall include— 4 (1) a prohibition on racial profiling; 5 (2) training on racial profiling issues as part of 6 law enforcement training; 7 (3) the collection of data in accordance with the 8 regulations issued by the Attorney General under 9 section 401; and 10 (4) participation in an administrative complaint 11 procedure or independent audit program that meets 12 the requirements of section 302. 13 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 14 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 15 SEC. 302. INVOLVEMENT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL. 16 (a) REGULATIONS.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 18 after the date of enactment of this Act and in con- 19 sultation with stakeholders, including Federal, State, 20 Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies and com- 21 munity, professional, research, and civil rights orga- 22 nizations, the Attorney General shall issue regula- 23 tions for the operation of administrative complaint 24 procedures and independent audit programs to en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Apr 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1084.IS S1084 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 1084 IS sure that such programs and procedures provide an 1 appropriate response to allegations of racial profiling 2 by law enforcement agents or agencies. 3 (2) GUIDELINES.—The regulations issued 4 under paragraph (1) shall contain guidelines that 5 ensure the fairness, effectiveness, and independence 6 of the administrative complaint procedures and inde- 7 pendent auditor programs. 8 (b) NONCOMPLIANCE.—If the Attorney General de- 9 termines that the recipient of a grant from any covered 10 program is not in compliance with the requirements of sec- 11 tion 301 or the regulations issued under subsection (a), 12 the Attorney General shall withhold, in whole or in part 13 (at the discretion of the Attorney General), funds for one 14 or more grants to the recipient under the covered pro- 15 gram, until the recipient establishes compliance. 16 (c) PRIVATE PARTIES.—The Attorney General shall 17 provide notice and an opportunity for private parties to 18 present evidence to the Attorney General that a recipient 19 of a grant from any covered program is not in compliance 20 with the requirements of this title. 21 SEC. 303. DATA COLLECTION DEMONSTRATION PROJECT. 22 (a) COMPETITIVE AWARDS.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may, 24 through competitive grants or contracts, carry out a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Apr 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1084.IS S1084 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •S 1084 IS 2-year demonstration project for the purpose of de- 1 veloping and implementing data collection programs 2 on the hit rates for stops and searches by law en- 3 forcement agencies. The data collected shall be 4 disaggregated by race, ethnicity, national origin, 5 gender, and religion. 6 (2) NUMBER OF GRANTS.—The Attorney Gen- 7 eral shall provide not more than 5 grants or con- 8 tracts under this section. 9 (3) ELIGIBLE GRANTEES.—Grants or contracts 10 under this section shall be awarded to law enforce- 11 ment agencies that serve communities where there is 12 a significant concentration of racial or ethnic minori- 13 ties and that are not alrea [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]

Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov or a qualified attorney for legal matters.