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S. 3955 (116th): Justice for Breonna Taylor Act

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The text of the bill below is as of Jun 11, 2020 (Introduced). The bill was not enacted into law.

Summary of this bill

Is the practice an effective law enforcement technique, or a privacy-violating maneuver that has resulted in innocent deaths?

Context

26-year-old emergency room technician Breonna Taylor was at home after midnight on March 13, when Louisville police entered her apartment unannounced. Police were looking for a suspected drug dealer who was using Taylor’s address to receive packages that law enforcement believed contained drugs. The suspected drug dealer wasn’t at Taylor’s home, though he was arrested elsewhere later that same day.

Police had obtained a so-called “no-knock warrant” from local judge Mary Shaw, though it’s unclear whether police in fact knocked or announced their presence in some form before entering. …

II

116th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 3955

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 11, 2020

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To prohibit no-knock warrants, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act.

2.

Prohibition on no-knock warrants

(a)

Federal prohibition

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a Federal law enforcement officer (as defined in section 115 of title 18, United States Code) may not execute a warrant until after the officer provides notice of his or her authority and purpose.

(b)

State and local law enforcement agencies

Beginning in the first fiscal year beginning after the date of enactment of this Act, and each fiscal year thereafter, a State or local law enforcement agency that receive funds from the Department of Justice during the fiscal year may not execute a warrant that does not require the law enforcement officer serving the warrant to provide notice of his or her authority and purpose before forcibly entering a premises.