• Congressional Democrats draft police reform bill that would make civil lawsuits against police easier and ban chokeholds

WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Monday unveiled a legislative blueprint for reforming policing policies, responding to the nationwide protests calling for change after the death of George Floyd.

The bill, led by Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Karen Bass, Los Angeles, and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., includes reforms making it easier to sue police officers for misconduct in civil court and to prosecute them for criminal behavior.

It would also prohibit the use of chokeholds and certain no-knock warrants by police nationwide, and give the Justice Department civil rights division subpoena power to investigate local police departments.

The bill also mandates the use of body cameras, bans the transfer of certain military equipment to police departments, creates a national database disclosing the names of officers with a pattern of abuse, and would eliminate the legal shield protecting police from lawsuits.

Video showed the white officer, Derek Chauvin, with his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as the unarmed black man was handcuffed and pleading that he could not breathe. The four officers involved were fired and now face charges in his death.

In the two weeks since, hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states have protested and demonstrated demanding change.

Before unveiling the police reform bill at a news conference, House and Senate Democrats met in the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall for 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence.

“Empathy and sympathy and words of caring for those who have died and suffered are necessary. But it is not enough,” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said at the news conference. “We must change laws and systems of accountability. We must pass legislation that makes our common values and our common ideals real in the law of our land.”

The bill would also make lynching a federal crime, something that has broad support in both chambers, but was blocked by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., last week.

Without significant support from Senate Republicans, who control that chamber, any legislation passed by House Democrats is unlikely to reach President Donald Trump’s desk. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declined to comment on the bill Monday.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats weren’t going to let the issue fade away.

“In the Senate, Democrats are going to fight like hell to make this a reality,” Schumer said. “Now we must collectively, all Americans, raise our voices and call on Leader McConnell to put this reform bill on the floor of the Senate before July to be debated and voted on.”

Bass said the national protests, and the extremely high level of support for them in national polls, gave Democrats confidence that legislation could pass.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, said he couldn’t comment on the House proposal because he hasn’t seen it yet, but he identified three possible points of common ground with Democrats: raising the level of officer training by linking training standards to federal money, requiring more transparency about misconduct allegations so police officers can’t escape past problems by moving to another city, and making it easier to remove bad officers.