Bill on shaky ground
Senate Democrats’ politically driven move falling apart
Massachusetts Democrats are heading down a politically perilous path in trying to quickly ram through a police reform bill loaded with anti-law enforcement measures like limits on qualified immunity.
Liberal Democratic lawmakers are so intent on passing their own headline-generating amendments that they’ve lost on the ultimate goal — passing a real reform law that protects citizens as well as good cops.
The bill would ban the use of chokeholds by police and stop racial profiling.
But the section on qualified immunity, which protects government officials from civil lawsuits, is the most appealing to liberals, who are anxious to eliminate or severely restrict the practice. That would open the door to police being flooded with civil lawsuits.
But moderate Dems and Republicans are now getting queasy — fearing a voter backlash at the polls. And that’s prompting a warning from a top supporter of ending qualified immunity, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
Pressley injected herself into the State House debate on Sunday, saying, “It has come to my attention that many detractors are attempting to weaken the bill.”
Whatever happens, it’s highly unlikely that the more conservative House will go along with the more liberal state Senate’s bill.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo says he plans to hold virtual public hearings on their bill before lawmakers take any action — a move that ensures the quick drive to push through an end to qualified immunity has been temporarily stalled.
What a novel idea — input from the public.
Just scroll through the list of 145 amendments in the Senate bill and it’s clear that some of them have little to do with better policing, but a lot do with grandstanding.
One of the amendments in the police reform bill would establish a “special commission for the promotion and celebration of Juneteenth Independence Day.” Not a bad idea on its own, but police reform?
Another amendment would establish a “special commission to study racial segregation in housing.”
Another amendment would ban no-knock warrants.
There are also pro-police amendments in there, but those will likely face rejection.
The Massachusetts Coalition of Police and other law enforcement groups on Monday demanded the suspension of debate on the bill, citing a lack of input from police, including Black and Latino officers.
The groups claim they made “numerous calls” to state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, D-Boston, sponsor of the bill, but they were ignored.
And state Sen. Dean Tran, R-Fitchburg, the most senior Asian American elected official in the state, called the Democratic bill “ill conceived and politically driven” — an apt description for what’s going on at the State House.
“What do you know about racial injustice and inequality,” Tran asked his mostly white colleagues.