The legislative package passed by a bipartisan, unanimous voice vote.
WASHINGTON – The Senate Judiciary Committee today advanced eight law enforcement bills amid National Police Week. This is the Judiciary Committee’s largest Police Week package in over 15 years.
Additionally, the Committee voted 12-9 to advance Jason Reding Quinones’ nomination to be U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
“Day in and day out, the men and women in law enforcement put their lives on the line to protect communities across America. Today’s action helps ensure these brave individuals, and their families, are equally protected and supported,” Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said. “The legislation advanced out of our committee this National Police Week will boost investment in local police departments, safeguard benefits for fallen officers’ families and improve law enforcement recruitment and retention. I’m proud to Back the Blue and look forward to quickly moving these bills on the Senate floor.”
Grassley also led 80 of his Senate colleagues in a resolution recognizing the service and sacrifice of America’s courageous law enforcement officers and their families.
The eight bipartisan bills passed out of the Judiciary Committee today are:
S. 180, Protecting First Responders from Secondary Exposure Act:
A bill to use existing Justice Department funds to equip state and local governments with additional training and containment tools to guard officers and first responders against accidental exposure to dangerous substances.
Cosponsors: Grassley, Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)
S.1563, Retired Law Enforcement Officers Continuing Service Act:
A bill to solve law enforcement staffing shortages by providing local police departments access to retired federal, state and local officers to perform investigations and analysis, as well as training for the next generation of law enforcement.
Cosponsors: Klobuchar, Grassley, Durbin
S.419, Reauthorizing Support and Treatment for Officers in Crisis Act:
A bill to expand mental health resources for law enforcement officers. The legislation would help provide family –support, mental health services and suicide prevention programs within law enforcement communities.
Cosponsors: Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Grassley, Klobuchar, Durbin
S.911, Chief Herbert D. Proffitt Act:
A bill to ensure families of retired law enforcement officers who were killed as a result of their service are not unjustly denied benefits. The bill is named in honor of Chief Herbert D. Proffitt, a Korean war veteran and retired law enforcement officer who was tragically killed by an individual he had arrested a decade earlier.
Cosponsors: Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Blumenthal, Grassley, Durbin
S.1316, Strong Communities Act:
A bill to boost law enforcement recruitment and retention by incentivizing officers to work in the communities where they live.
Cosponsors: Gary Peters (D-Mich.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Marsha Blackburn (D-Tenn.), Klobuchar, Cruz, Coons, Welch, Durbin, Hirono
S.1595, Improving Police CARE Act:
A bill to equip law enforcement officers with quality trauma kits, which allows them to respond immediately if a civilian or fellow officer experiences a traumatic injury during a call.
Cosponsors: Cornyn, Whitehouse, Tillis, Coons, Durbin
S.539, PROTECT Our Children Reauthorization Act:
A bill to reauthorize and modernize the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program, aiding state and local law enforcement agencies in combating child sexual exploitation and internet crimes against children.
Cosponsors: Cornyn, Blumenthal, Blackburn, Klobuchar, Hawley, Durbin
S.237, Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act:
A bill to strengthen federal support for families of police officers, firefighters and first responders who are killed or permanently disabled by service-related cancers.
Cosponsors: Klobuchar, Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Blackburn, Blumenthal, Coons, Cornyn, Cruz, Durbin, Hirono, Padilla, Welch, Whitehouse
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