About the bill
Named after an African-American New York City killed in 2014 after asphyxiation by white police officer Daniel Pantaleo, the Eric Garner Excessive Force Prevention Act would make chokeholds or other oxygen-hindering maneuvers illegal under federal civil rights law.
The House version numbered H.R. 4408 was previously introduced in September 2019 by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY8). The Senate version numbered S. 3895 was introduced on June 4 by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
What supporters say
Supporters argue that the chokehold and other similar physical moves have no place in our society, and we see the results with examples such as Garner, Floyd, and others.
“The overwhelming majority of all police officers are hardworking individuals who are on the job to protect and serve,” Rep. Jeffries said in a 2015 …
Sponsor and status
116th Congress (2019–2021)
This bill was introduced on September 19, 2019, in a previous session of Congress, but it did not receive a vote.
Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. It is common for legislative text to be introduced concurrently in multiple bills (called companion bills), re-introduced in subsequent sessions of Congress in new bills, or added to larger bills (sometimes called omnibus bills).
127 Cosponsors (127 Democrats)
Position statements
What legislators are saying
“Doyle Calls for Legislation to End Police Brutality”
—
Rep. Michael Doyle [D-PA18, 2019-2022]
(Co-sponsor)
on Jun 4, 2020
“Bustos Statement on Justice in Policing Act of 2020”
—
Rep. Cheri Bustos [D-IL17, 2013-2022]
(Co-sponsor)
on Jun 8, 2020
“Perlmutter Calls for Action to Address Excessive Police Force, Inequality and Injustice”
—
Rep. Ed Perlmutter [D-CO7, 2007-2022]
(Co-sponsor)
on Jun 3, 2020
History
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Sep 19, 2019
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Introduced
Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. |
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Feb 25, 2021
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Reintroduced Bill —
Introduced
This activity took place on a related bill, H.R. 1347 (117th). |
H.R. 4408 (116th) was a bill in the United States Congress.
A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.
Bills numbers restart every two years. That means there are other bills with the number H.R. 4408. This is the one from the 116th Congress.
This bill was introduced in the 116th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2019 to Jan 3, 2021. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books.
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Where is this information from?
GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.
