Police reform package stuck in Legislature
Qualified immunity is main hurdle as Floyd Act stalls; time running out for bipartisan items
after George Floyd’s murder last year at the hands of Minneapolis police, Gov. Greg Abbott went to his funeral in Houston, vowing legislation “to make sure we never have anything like this ever occur in the state of Texas.”
“Discussions about the pathway forward will not be taken over by politicians but will be led by family members, will be led by victims, will be led by the people who have suffered because of racism for far too long in this state and this country,” he told reporters.
Now, the sweeping package of police reforms that Floyd’s family supports has all but been abandoned in the Legislature, and lawmakers have just a few weeks to pass at least some bipartisan components before they adjourn at the end of next month.
The major hurdle has been qualified immunity, a decades-old legal defense that shields officers and other government employees from being sued over civil rights violations. Police reform advocates have long targeted the protection, saying it essentially absolves the police of wrongdoing, and some states have begun rolling it back in the wake of Floyd’s killing.
In Texas, the proposal is opposed by police unions and conservative members who believe officers need ultimate flexibility to do their jobs.
“Qualified immunity allows them to respond to incidents without pause, make critical split-second decisions and rely heavily on the facts and circumstances that are often still developing,” San Marcos Police Chief Stan Stan Shortly
dridge told lawmakers in a March hearing.
Since then, the legislative package has stalled in its Republicancontrolled committee, and it’s unclear what elements both the House and more conservative Senate will be able to agree on.
“We’re asking you, the family’s asking you, let’s ease up a little bit, let’s put the right people behind the badge,” Travis Cains, Floyd’s friend, said at the March hearing. “You’re not there to kill,” Cains said of the police, “you’re there to protect and serve.”
Sandra Bland Act
On Thursday, the House passed three targeted pieces of the omnibus bill: one would strengthen disciplinary standards for officer misconduct; another would prohibit drug convictions based on undercover officers’ testimony alone; and the third would end arrests for minor traffic offenses for which the only punishment is a fine.
Barring arrests for low-level traffic stops is a measure that was stripped from the last major police reform bill, the 2017 Sandra Bland Act, named after a Black woman who died in the Waller County jail after being pulled over for failing to use her turn signal.
Proponents say it will reduce the likelihood of police interactions for minor offenses from turning violent, especially those that involve implicit bias based on a person’s race.
“A lot of us have kids,” said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, and member of the legislative Black Caucus. “That’s a concerning thing. A lot of us are at the age that we lived through this being the norm, because you do end up living in fear of a bad traffic stop.”
The Senate has so far unified around measures that are supported by police unions, including a requirement for officers to intervene if another officer is using excessive force and to give first aid and call for help for injured civilians. A third would limit the use of chokeholds when detaining someone, a practice already prohibited in many large police departments but that advocates want codified into law.
Floyd, who was from Houston, died after then-officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for over nine minutes and then failed alongside other officers to provide immediate first aid. Chauvin was found guilty April 20 of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death.
Rep. Senfronia Thompson, the Houston Democrat who authored the Texas police reform package, known as the George Floyd Act, said in a statement on the day of Chauvin’s conviction that she was “deeply committed to continuing the fight to get all of the reforms” within the bill passed this session. Others said it could take time, but that they would continue pressing.
Big changes take time
“The George Floyd Act made what some people would consider to be dramatic changes, and yet for all of who have been impacted by police misconduct and things, it’s just the opposite,” said Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston. “You have to recognize that in the Legislature, making big changes usually doesn’t come in one session.”
A January 2021 poll by the University of Houston Hobby School showed that more than two-thirds of Texans supported the state’s George Floyd Act, though among Republicans support was just 43 percent.
Many of the individual reforms reaped more support, such as requiring officers to intervene, which was favored by 91 percent of Texans. Limiting qualified immunity was least popular of all the provisions but was still favored by 72 percent.
Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP, said he has not given up on scaling back the legal defense, and has been meeting with conservative members to talk about potential compromises. He pointed to the federal level, where Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, has signaled openness to allowing some litigation against police departments, rather than individual officers.
“One of the biggest problems that we have is the standard for qualified immunity is so low, it allows outrageous conduct to be approved by the system,” Bledsoe said.
Rep. James White, R-Hillister, chairs the committee where the Floyd bill has been held up. He was optimistic that key lessons from Floyd’s killing will soon be incorporated into law, including the need for officers to intervene when colleagues are acting wrongfully, to provide medical aid and to stop using apprehension techniques that block a person’s air and blood flow unnecessarily.
“Based on the policies that you see moving, those will become statutes, they will get ingrained into the training philosophy for our peace officers,” he said. “And the hope is, if it doesn’t stop it, it will definitely mitigate it.”
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Abbott said the Republican governor “continues working with the Legislature to pass and sign meaningful legislation” that would prevent similar tragedies in Texas.”
Alycia Castillo, a policy analyst with the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, said the movement of several bills this week have given members of the group “a tremendous sense of relief and respect.”
“There is still a long way to go to ensure racial discrimination in policing is eradicated and until Black and brown people are truly safe from state-sanctioned violence, but we’re proud that Texas leaders took steps in that direction,” Castillo said.