Law, Justice, and Ethics (LJE) Policy Committee : National Black Caucus of State Legislators

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Resolution LJE-21-06

A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC ACTION ON SYSTEMATIC RACISM

WHEREAS, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) is committed to empowerment and justice for the African American in United States which has long been the subject to direct violence, subjugation, and numerous acts of overt and systematic racism;

WHEREAS, according to the Brookings Institution the average white family has roughly 10 times the wealth of the average black family, and white college graduates have over seven times more wealth than black college graduates;

WHEREAS, the hard work of enslaved black Americans has helped build generational wealth for the families that owned those slaves, while black Americans have only increased their percent of national wealth by only one percent (to 1.5%) since 1863 while maintaining the same percent of the population;

WHEREAS, under President Abraham Lincoln, the federal government planned to allocate roughly 400,000 acres of land to former slaves that were now freed, however after his assignation that plan was swiftly abandoned;

WHEREAS, the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance has declared “slavery and the slave trade are a crime against humanity;”

WHEREAS, Africans forcibly imported into the 13 British colonies that became the United States of America were legally chattel for 246 years, 170 under the U.S. Americans played a significant role in the slave trade, indeed the last slave ship, the Coltilda arrived in Mobile Alabama in July 1860, just seven months before the Civil War;

WHEREAS, of the nearly 11 million enslaved Africans, only about 300,000 were brought to what would become the United States of America. Laborers were subjected to brutalization, mutilation, rape, torture, suppression of cultural practices, and routine humiliation, including the breaking up of families, and denied access to education and a nutritious diet;

WHEREAS, their inhumane, unpaid working conditions produced severe illnesses;

WHEREAS, according to the Brookings Institution, the value assigned to enslaved black Americans in 1860 was over 3 billion, which is more than the combined value of money invested in the railroads and factories at the time;

WHEREAS, because slavers scrimped on food and shelter, malnourishment, diarrhea, dysentery, worms, whooping cough, and respiratory diseases were rampant, and these conditions pushed the infant and early childhood death rate of slaves to twice that of white infants and children;

WHEREAS, half of all African American enslaved infants died in their first year;

WHEREAS, African American children continue to be plagued by these problems, for the period, 2013-2016, African American children experienced a death rate from SIDS of 74.4 per thousand compared to White children’s 39 per 1000;

WHEREAS, according to the Department of Health and Human Services African American infants die at a rate of 11 per thousand compared to White infants’ 4.7;

WHEREAS, African American history is replete with horrific atrocities, terrorist lynching, racial pogroms, massacres, and in the contemporary moment heinous hate crimes and police murders;

WHEREAS, The Equal Justice Initiative has documented 4000 lynchings;

WHEREAS, according to the Anti-Defamation League, Black people are the only U.S. racial or ethnic group who are killed by police at a rate greater than their percentage of the population, and between 2016 and 2018, the number of white supremacist murders more than doubled with 2017 being the fifth deadliest year on record for extremist violence against Blacks since 1970;

WHEREAS, African Americans are disproportionately killed by police, although they comprise only 13.4 percent of the U.S. population, from 2015-2019, they accounted for 26.4 percent of individuals killed by police, alternatively Whites make up 50 percent of police killings but compose 61 percent of the population, and Latinx people comprise 18% of both police killings and the U.S. population, while Asians constitute 2 percent of police killings and 5 percent of the population;

WHEREAS, from Emancipation into the 1960s, African American men working the same job as White men earned only two-thirds of their wages;

WHEREAS, the Black-White wage gap expanded with rising wage inequality from 1979 to 2018, and African American women and men reside at the bottom of the wage scale and disproportionately comprise unskilled, non-union, service sector labor;

WHEREAS, according to the US Census Bureau the median wage for black women is just over $36,000, while white men have a median wage of over $61,000;

WHEREAS, since the late 19th Century, most African Americans have been in sub-standard housing stock and poor municipal services, according to the Brookings Institute median net worth declined by more for Black families (44.3 percent decline from 2007 to 2013) than for white families (26.1 percent decline);

WHEREAS, African Americans have been kept out of communities or had their communities denied services due to redlining, with Federal Housing Administration even subsidizing the production of suburban housing with the requirement that they not be sold to black Americans;

WHEREAS, the GI Bill that would pay for military veterans to be able to pay for college, however that bill allowed for state implementation and allowed black Americans to be denied the same rights and payments as their white veteran counterparts;

WHEREAS, the mass incarceration of African American males eliminates their right to vote and therefore proves a direct link between racialized policies and the suppression of African American voices in the political process of the United States;

WHEREAS, even with its record of anti-Black racial violence the lynchings of William “Froggie James, November 11, 1909 in Cairo, Illinois, Jesse Washington, May 16, 1911 in Waco, Texas; and Laura and

L.D. Nelson, May 25, 1911 near Okemah, Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, are unacceptable;

WHEREAS, The Wilmington Massacre of 1898 (North Carolina); the 1917 East Louis (Illinois); 1919 Elaine, Arkansas, and 1921 Tulsa (Oklahoma) massacres are absolutely inexcusable;

WHEREAS, in modern times, the savage 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, the atrocious rape of Mary Ruth Reed in Monroe North Carolina in 1959 and monstrous murders of James Byrd Jr, in 1998 in Jasper, Texas and the Charleston Massacre (North Carolina) in 2015 continue to resonate with the public;

WHEREAS, the current wave of protests were ignited by the callous police murder of George Floyd, and was preceded by several others dying at the hands of the police, including Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Breonna Taylor and the contemporary lynching of Ahmaud Aubrey; and

WHEREAS, the Statement by certain Special Procedures at Human Rights Coalition urgent debate on police violence against people of African descent and peaceful protesters “[African-Americans] in the United States; the domestic legal system has utterly failed to acknowledge and confront racial injustice and discrimination. This injustice and discrimination is so deeply entrenched in law enforcement that even during this period of uprising, reports continue of extrajudicial killings of Black people by the police. This injustice and discrimination also affect other racial and ethnic minorities. Despite several decades of policing reform, executive intervention, and judicial oversight, this violence and racial injustice persists.”

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) believes the situation in the United States requires an international support to ensure that people of African descent in this country are no longer subject to the routine and systematic racism;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL believes the racism that exists requires international support and leadership to acknowledge the grave violations of the past and fix the systematically flawed systems that are entrenched and support racism;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL calls on the United Nations to take immediate action to put end to systematic racism in the United States and other member countries as it is a threat that must be considered a priority;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL believes that the United Nations should look at substantive punishments for countries including the United States that do not make progress on systematic racism;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL believe that Black Americans are owed restitution and reparations for the grave injustices suffered;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL urges Congress to have US Department of the Treasury with the assistance of other federal departments to do full accounting of the all the benefits that were promised to Black Americans that were never received and the cost that systematic injustice has had on the community;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL urges that Congress also work with the various federal departments to develop a plan to distribute these funds to Black Americans in an equitable manner that appropriately aids the most vulnerable members to create generational wealth; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and other federal and state government officials and agencies as appropriate.

SPONSOR: Representative Carol Ammons (IL)
Committee of Jurisdiction: Law, Justice, and Ethics Policy Committee
Certified by Committee Chair: Representative Reginald Meeks (KY)
Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2020
Ratification is certified by: Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter (SC), President

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Resolution LJE-21-07

A RESOLUTION TO REMOVE THE EXCEPTION FOR SLAVERY FROM THE US CONSTITUTION

WHEREAS, the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibited slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, since the Amendment’s passage by Congress on January 31, 1865, and its ratification on December 6, 1865;

WHEREAS, the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States did not end slavery and involuntary servitude, as it provides an exception for those that have been convicted of a crime;

WHEREAS, the exception to the 13^th Amendment contributed to a carceral system and mass incarceration that did not exist before the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States;

WHEREAS, after the 13^thamendment, laws and practices were implemented that included: Jim Crow; Segregation; Redlining; Voter suppression; Dred Scott; the “War on Drugs,” and Police brutality;

WHEREAS, the inability to build generational wealth relegates individuals to poverty and living without basic necessities, and the prison industrial complex perpetuates this because: (1) prison labor is slavery; (2) instead of paying workers, taxpayers pay for correctional centers to give corporations free labor; and (3) unfair justice systems are built to keep black inmates in prison and benefit from the increase low-cost labor;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators supports an amendment to the US Constitution that strikes “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted” from the 13^th amendment;

SPONSOR: Representative Carol Ammons (IL)
Committee of Jurisdiction: Law, Justice, and Ethics Policy Committee
Certified by Committee Chair: Representative Reginald Meeks (KY)
Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2020
Ratification is certified by: Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter (SC), President

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Resolution LJE-21-08

A RESOLUTION ON THE URGENT NEED FOR ETHICAL POLICING

WHEREAS, in March of 2020, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black emergency room technician, was murdered by Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers who executed a “no-knock” search warrant at the wrong residence;

WHEREAS, the three plainclothes LMPD officers fired some 22 shots into Ms. Taylor’s apartment, hitting her eight times and dispatch logs revealed Ms. Taylor lay untouched, where she fell, for 20 minutes;

WHEREAS, Ms. Taylor died from gunshot wounds sustained during the execution of the no-knock warrant but the related incident report, which was nearly blank, indicated Ms. Taylor had no injuries;

WHEREAS, only one officer, Brett Hankison, was fired while the others — Jon Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove — were placed on administrative reassignment;

WHEREAS, the LMPD wrapped up its internal investigation in May but refused to release related records, citing the investigative efforts of other entities; the Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation;

WHEREAS, in May of 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was detained by three police officers from the Minneapolis Police Department after being accused of trying to use a counterfeit bill;

WHEREAS, all three officers pinned Mr. Floyd face-down on the ground and simultaneously knelt on his body, including officer Derek Chauvin who pressed his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for nearly 8 minutes;

WHEREAS, before dying under officer Chauvin’s knee, Mr. Floyd stated some 20 times, that he could not breathe and called out for his mother who had died two years prior;

WHEREAS, amid protests and outrage, the police officers involved in the incident were fired and in response the head of the Minneapolis police union – Lieutenant Bob Kroll – stated his intent to fight for the officers’ jobs;

WHEREAS, Ms. Taylor and Mr. Floyd are two of the approximately 1,000 men, women, and children killed by police violence each year, and a disproportionate number of victims of police violence are Black;

WHEREAS, such extreme rates of police violence and the absence of accountability to the profession, and the public, is indicative of a lack of ethical policing;

WHEREAS, the Congressional Black Caucus introduced the Justice in Policing Act of 2020;

WHEREAS, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 bans chokeholds, carotid holds and no-knock warrants at the federal level, limits the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement, and prohibits federal, state, and local law enforcement from engaging in racial, religious, and discriminatory profiling;

WHEREAS, to end the epidemic levels of police violence against Black people, in addition to federal action, there is an urgent need to give states tools to track and examine police conduct and effectuate the permanent removal of problem officers from the law enforcement profession; and

WHEREAS, such tools should systemize transparency and accountability within and across all policing agencies and make misconduct records and records of disciplinary action available to the public and future employers.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) reaffirms its positions on police accountability, community oversight, justice for victims of police violence, and models for police reform;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL applauds the introduction of the Justice in Policing Act, and urges the US Congress to pass legislation the bans chokeholds, carotid holds, and no-knock warrants at the federal level, limits the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement, and prohibits federal, state, and local law enforcement from engaging in racial, religious, and discriminatory profiling;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL calls for all states to adopt model that embraces ethical policing which includes: (1) an efficient and effective process for systemizing transparency and accountability as it relates to police conduct and disciplinary actions; and (2) an efficient and effective process for the permanent removal of problem officers from the law enforcement profession; and

SPONSOR(S): Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter (SC), Representative Ray Hull (RI), and Representative Reginald Meeks (KY)
Committee of Jurisdiction: Law, Justice, and Ethics Policy Committee
Certified by Committee Chair: Representative Reginald Meeks (KY)
Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2020
Ratification is certified by: Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter (SC), President

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Resolution LJE-21-09

A RESOLUTION ON JUST AS YOUR SON MODEL: AN INNOVATIVE MODEL FOR COMMUNITY POLICING REFORM

WHEREAS, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL), has extensive history of policy and advocacy on the need to transform our current policing model to one that is equitable and safe for communities of color;

WHEREAS, there have been a number of incidents resulting in the death of African-Americans at the hands of a police officer that are a call to action, and include the deaths of at least seventeen (17) African Americans including– Michael Brown (MO 2014), Eric Garner (NY 2014), Laquan McDonald (IL 2014), Terrence Crutcher (OK 2016), Alton Sterling (LA 2016), Philando Castile (MN 2016), Jordan Edwards (TX 2017), Jocques Scott Clemmons (TN 2017), Botham Jean (TX 2018), Daniel Hambrick (TN 2018), Antwon Rose (PA 2018), Thurman Blevins MN (2018), Stephon Clark (CA 2018), Atatiana Jefferson (2019), Ahmaud Arbery (GA 2020), Breonna Taylor (KY 2020), and George Floyd (MN 2020);

WHEREAS, during these times of great division and turmoil it is a time for us to come together and work to address these problems as means to heal not only wounds from these deaths, but longstanding division that has enabled many behaviors that lead to these deaths;

WHEREAS, the innovative Just As Your Son Model seeks to foster compassion, understanding, and data to transform our current police departments to better serve the communities they police;

WHEREAS, the Just As Your Son Model is based on the tenets of Representative policing, Evaluative hiring, Social development, Community adaptability, Uniform standards, Enforcement rubric, and Empathetic measures which stands for R.E.S.C.U.E.E. as it will rescue our current policing system from the position it currently finds itself in;

WHEREAS, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report, between June 1^st, 2015 and March 31^st, 2016 there were 1,348 potential arrest related deaths, statistics that are very difficult to find comprehensive data on because of the lack of reporting from law enforcement agencies;

WHEREAS, according to a study published in 2016 by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, African Americans were 2.8 times more likely to be fatally shot by a law enforcement officer accounting for 32% of police shootings much higher than their population percentage;

WHEREAS, according to the same study African Americans were more likely to be unarmed than other races, with 14% of the African Americans being unarmed compared to only 9.4% of white and 5.8% of Hispanic shooting victims;

WHEREAS, African Americans are less than 13 percent of the total U.S. population but accounted for 23% of those shot by police in 2017, according to the Washington Post;

WHEREAS, in the City of Ferguson, MO at the time of the death of Michael Brown, 67% of the town was African American, while 50 of the towns 53 police officers were white, and only 3 were African American;

WHEREAS, in Hartford, CT a city that is only 16% white has a police department that is 66% white;

WHEREAS, having a police department that looks like the community it polices does not alone improve relations with the community, but it does allow the officers to better understand the community it polices;

WHEREAS, there is a great need to identify law enforcement that is not correctly suited to interact with public because they may be too aggressive or harbor dangerous racial biases before they are hired, and it may be possible to move them to the correct position within the department;

WHEREAS, evaluative hiring allows candidates to demonstrate: 1) a clear comprehension of the knowledge required for the task-at-hand, 2) the skills necessary to be competent and level-headed, and 3) the traits essential to interacting with their public constituencies;

WHEREAS, in Ferguson, MO a fractured municipal system led to increased policing where the minority community was targeted and issued 10,000 more arrest warrants than it had citizens;

WHEREAS, in Ferguson more policing led to racial and ethnic minorities becoming increasing hostile toward police officers, exacerbating and inciting police then contributing to the perception that this segment of the citizenry was dangerous and more of a threat creating a vicious cycle;

WHEREAS, social development is an intentional inclusion of training and professional development materials designed to teach peace officers about their role in the social construct of America, and strengthen their understanding helps balance the social equation and hopefully, leads to long-term cooperative relationship with minority citizens;

WHEREAS, a one-size-fits-all model is never appropriate because communities vary extensively, so communities can benefit from using community adaptability to analyze community construct, type, neighboring communities, and size as essential elements when developing policies and procedures meant to enhance service levels, response rates and appropriate use of force standards for communities;

WHEREAS, there are currently no national minimum standards for policing in the United States, even as Congress appropriates billions in annual appropriations that help state and local government through the Office of Justice Programs and the Community Oriented Policing Services Program;

WHEREAS, an enforcement rubric is necessary to preventing misconduct, eradicating brutality, detecting waste, deterring fraud and abuse within law enforcement agencies;

WHEREAS, a review of such rubrics should be conducted by an oversight board consisting of police professionals, community advocates and other individuals knowledgeable of national and local police standards; and

WHEREAS, the public expects police officers and their departments to be empathic to and understanding of the community and its residents.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) strongly urges state, federal, and local government to take a stand and build a better more inclusive law enforcement that seeks to identify and eliminate the systematic racism that is currently present;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL denounces any efforts to divide the American people and our communities around these issues, and calls for all leaders to come together to deescalate and solve these issues which have long plagued our nation;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL calls for a national dialogue with other non-governmental organizations, federal, state, and local governments to address these concerns of People of Color and find solutions for systematic racism;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL supports and urges all state, local, and federal governments to make law enforcement more accurately represent ethnic profile of the communities that they police;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL supports and urges all state, local, and federal government to examine and improve their hiring process to include proper screening and testing that identifies, removes, or places officers in a position in a position that best serves the departments mission to serve the public;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL recognizes and urges that all law enforcement agencies begin to incorporate training for police officers that allows them to better understand the communities they police and greater role that policing plays in society;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL recognizes the needs for communities to employ different and innovative policing models based on their unique position, as such the NBCSL urges police departments to work with neighboring jurisdictions as well as in their own community to develop policing models that benefits the communities that they serve more effectively;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL also believes that police departments are becoming to militarized, and that military equipment should not be employed by members of police departments, as de-escalation should be the first priority of police departments and military equipment can escalate situations;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL calls on Congress to use their power over annual appropriations to state and local government to implement national minimum standards that each department must meet at a minimum to receive this annual appropriation include:

a minimum level of education attainment and training hours for officers,
minimum standards for use acceptable of force and guidelines for the use of lethal force by an officer,
require training to identify and improve implicit bias,
require training for conflict resolution, mediation, and de-escalation practices,
minimum standards for pursuit practices,
require patrol officers to use body cameras and set up minimum standards for such video technology and practices,
minimum standards for stop and search procedures,
require intervention programs and training within a department,
require that an officer intervene with another officer when necessary,
minimum punishments for officers not following standards of conduct,
require law enforcement agencies report to the Department of Justice statistics on use of force, relevant information about those that die in police custody, and officers that violate such standards;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL further calls on Congress to substantially increase the annual appropriation to the Office of Justice Programs and the Community Oriented Policing Services Program to help cover the cost of these new requirements to not create an unfunded mandate on state and local governments, as well as to further encourage the adoption of these practices;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL calls on Congress to establish a national database at the Department of Justice that keeps a record of all allegations of wrongdoing by individual police officers so they can be shared with other police departments to stop problem officers from moving to communities;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL calls on all law enforcement agencies to implement their own enforcement rubric, to continually evaluate their officers and department as a whole;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL believes that these departments should be subject to externally examination from the state and other outside bodies to ensure these departments are properly serving the communities that are under their jurisdiction;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL urges that law enforcement agencies should include regular empathic training to be inculcated into the training that cadets receive to allow them to see the other person’s point of view and should include empathic measurements as a part of any annual performance review of current officers and department leadership; and

SPONSOR(S): Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter (SC) and Senator Brenda Gilmore (TN)
Committee of Jurisdiction: Law, Justice, and Ethics Policy Committee
Certified by Committee Chair: Representative Reginald Meeks (KY)
Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2020
Ratification is certified by: Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter (SC), President

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Resolution LJE-21-11

A RESOLUTION ON THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RATIFICATION OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT

WHEREAS, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) is proud to have diverse membership that seeks to ensure that women are equally represented and valued, without the contributions of our many dedicated hard-working female legislators we would not be the organization that we are today;

WHEREAS, 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which secured women’s right to vote;

WHEREAS, the State of Tennessee was the thirty-sixth and deciding state to pass the 19th Amendment by final vote of the General Assembly on August 18, 1920;

WHEREAS, 2020 also marks the first time in history that an African American woman is Vice Presidential nominee for a major political party, monumental moment in equality;

WHEREAS, on November 3, 2020 the United States elected Sen. Kamala Devi Harris to be Vice-President of United States of America, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is the first woman to ever hold the office of President of Vice President of United States, and the first African American to be Vice-President;

WHEREAS, suffragists had struggled from 1850 to 1920 to secure this basic right and history books often do not adequately address this rich heritage, particularly the drama of the final vote in Tennessee;

WHEREAS, another milestone for women in American history occurred in 1968, when Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm became the first African American woman elected to Congress, representing New York’s 12th congressional district, and was sworn in fifty years ago as a member of the 91st United States Congress;

WHEREAS, historic events for women continue as we approach the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, as January 2019 saw a record-breaking 100 women sworn in as members of the 116th United States Congress; and

WHEREAS, the NBCSL joins in this celebration of women and the commemoration of this significant event in American history.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL), joins in the appreciation and celebration, commemorating the 100th anniversary on which the women of America gained the right to vote;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL congratulates Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on her victory and historic achievement;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL recognizes and applauds all the sacrifices made by those many women who have worked to ensure women are treated equally in our society; and

SPONSOR(S): Senator Brenda Gilmore (TN), Representative Barbara Ballard (KS), Representative Billy Mitchell (GA), Representative G.A. Hardaway (TN), Senator Raumesh Akbari (TN), Representative Rick Staples (TN), Representative London Lamar (TN), Representative Vincent Dixie (TN), Representative Jesse Chism (TN), Representative John DeBerry (TN), Representative Antonio Parkinson (TN), Representative Larry Miller (TN), Representative Joe Towns (TN), Representative Barbara Cooper (TN), Representative Johnny Shaw (TN), Representative Karen Camper (TN), Representative Harold Love, Jr. (TN), Senator Katrina Robinson (TN), Representative Yusuf Hakeem (TN), Representative Toni Rose (TX), Representative Debra Bazemore (GA), Senator Karla May (MO), Representative Cherrish Pryor (IN), Representative Sandra Scott (GA), and Representative Karen Bennett (GA)
Committee of Jurisdiction: Law, Justice, and Ethics Policy Committee
Certified by Committee Chair: Representative Reginald Meeks (KY)
Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2020
Ratification is certified by: Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter (SC), President

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Resolution LJE-21-16

A RESOLUTION THAT HONORS THE MEMORY OF GEORGE FLOYD THROUGH ACTION

WHEREAS, in the wake of the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, our country is engaged in a nationwide conversation regarding law enforcement, social justice, and the need for reforms to enhance transparency, accountability, and community relations in law enforcement;

WHEREAS, the unreasonable use of force, including instances resulting in death, by law enforcement officers in recent years has raised a number of questions about the disparate treatment of different segments of society within the criminal justice system as well as the patterns of arrest-related deaths more generally;

WHEREAS, these patterns will continue unless our society examines the systems that allow the patterns to be repeated, and change will only begin when system leaders accept responsibility for these types of acts;

WHEREAS, the authority to use deadly force conferred on peace officers is critical responsibility that needs to be exercised judiciously and with respect for human rights and dignity and for the sanctity of every human life;

WHEREAS, the actions leading up to and surrounding the death of George Floyd is a result of continued systemic actions practiced by some law enforcement agencies in the past and, it is required that policy changes take place through decisive legislative actions nationwide;

WHEREAS, the tragic loss of Mr. Floyd was completely avoidable and showcases how police officers need to be held accountable by their fellow officers and the justice system, as well as in wake of protests that followed his passing; and

WHEREAS, the best way to honor the life Mr. Floyd is to ensure that his death was not in vain, and to improve the accountability of police officers as no one can be above the law.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) encourages federal, state, and local policy makers, as well as organizations, citizens, and law enforcement agencies to examine the following policies to honor George Floyd;

the creation of a Law Enforcement Excellence Task Force under a peace officer standards and training board to recommend reforms to strengthen the role of the board to approve, suspend, or revoke peace officer licenses to improve accountability and transparency, increase and streamline peace officer training requirements, and improve policies that govern professional accountability, and require the board to update the training curricula and capacity of certified colleges and training institutions to deliver updated use-of-force training;

the creation of a Use of Force Standards Task Force under a peace officer standards and training board to review the existing use-of-force standards and statutes for law enforcement and recommend any revisions necessary to ensure there is a focus on the sanctity of life, as well as standards that require that the use-of-force be reasonable, necessary, and proportionate;

such legislation and policies should at a minimum, the policies should hold officers accountable to use sound tactics, such as time, distance, and cover, to reduce the need to use force; require officers to intervene, when appropriate and safe, when witnessing unreasonable use of force; and require officers to report all incidents of unreasonable use of force to a supervisor;

further, such policy needs to create an investigation and prosecution work group appointed by the commissioner in the Department of Public Safety to review and determine if the Attorney General should have authority to intervene in peace-officer-involved deaths and provide recommendations and procedures if the Attorney General’s office should investigate and prosecute cases of police use of force that results in death;

civic engagement and participation in government is essential, and a provision restoring the right to vote to incarcerated persons reinstates the civil right to vote upon completion of any incarceration imposed for the offense or upon sentencing if no incarceration is imposed;

a state must take action to improve law enforcement relations with the community and to strengthen accountability of law enforcement personnel, and a state Safe Streets program should be established by the commissioner in the Department of Public Safety to appropriate grant funds to local governments and community organizations to partner with local law enforcement on crime prevention and to provide targeted intervention to prevent escalation of violence after serious acts;

maintain rights under the first amendment and public safety during protests provision would require a crowd control plan that clearly defines the overall political, strategic, and tactical response framework for crowd control and protests with a clear priority given to de-escalation; and

SPONSOR(S): Senator Jeff Hayden (MN) and Representative Reginald Meeks (KY)
Committee of Jurisdiction: Law, Justice, and Ethics Policy Committee
Certified by Committee Chair: Representative Reginald Meeks (KY)
Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2020
Ratification is certified by: Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter (SC), President

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Resolution LJE-21-26

A RESOLUTION ON POLICE REFORM

WHEREAS, The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) has maintained a strong commitment to equal justice and equal rights, and has long been alarmed by the unfair treatment that many Black Americans have faced;

WHEREAS, in 2020, millions around the world marched for equal justice and against the wrongful deaths and brutality perpetrated by law enforcement officers;

WHEREAS, police have killed 49 more people in the first half of 2020 than in 2019 , and in May police shot and killed 110 people the most in one month since the Washington Post has been tracking these incidents;

WHEREAS, African Americans are disproportionately the victims of police violence and the use of excessive force, according to the Washington Post, Black Americans are more than twice as likely be victims of excessive use of force than White and Hispanic Americans;

WHEREAS, African Americans are more likely to be victims of police brutality and excessive use of force during an arrest, investigatory stop, pretrial detention or imprisonment;

WHEREAS, a police officer’s use of excessive force is a violation a victim’s civil rights;

WHEREAS, after the Civil War, African Americans, particularly in southern states, had trouble enforcing their constitutional rights in state courts;

WHEREAS, in 1871, the U.S. Congress passed Section 1983 to allow people to sue in federal court when a state or local official violated their federal rights;

WHEREAS, the Civil Rights Act of 1871 under 42 U.S.C Section 1983 makes liable “every person” including police officers, correctional officers, and other law enforcement officers, who under color of law, deprives another person of civil rights;

WHEREAS, the intent of Section 1983 was to hold state and local law enforcement officers accountable for the harm imposed on Black Americans and to combat the Ku Klux Klan;

WHEREAS, the judicial doctrine of qualified immunity wrongly and unjustly precludes the victims of police violence from vindicating their civil rights under Section 1983;

WHEREAS, the courts have a duty to enforce civil rights laws as well as duty to ensure that police officers do not kill with impunity; and

WHEREAS, the data surrounding homicide by police officers is very unreliable, as many law enforcement departments self-report data to the Department of Justice, the Department even stopped reporting “arrest-related deaths” as the data was regarded as unreliable, but many private organizations tracking this data believe the number to be over a thousand deaths a year.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) hereby urges law enforcement agencies in this nation to adopt more stringent policies in which:

By January 1, 2023, all uniformed law enforcement officers or those acting as a uniformed law enforcement are required to wear a body camera while on duty;
An officer shall use body cameras and/or cameras on their vehicle to record all encounters with any person who the officer suspects has or is committing an offense the instant the officer stops a suspect. Any other officers who are present during the stop of a suspect shall also turn on their body cameras at the instant the suspect is stopped or detained. This shall be standard operating procedure.
Prohibit chokeholds in all circumstances;
An officer is prohibited from shooting at a fleeing suspect, unless there is a reasonable threat to life of another individual;
An officer may only use deadly force if a person’s life is in imminent danger;
An officer shall keep a detailed record of each encounter in which the officer stops a person who the officer suspects has or is committing an offense, the record must include the suspect’s race, gender, ethnicity, and any other information the agency finds necessary, and all records must be compiled into an annual report that is sent to the department of safety;
An officer shall report to the chief of police or other designated person in the agency if the officer witnesses another officer’s violation of departmental policy, state or federal law, and if the officer does not make such a report, they will be held accountable for inaction;
Report data and information on police related homicides to the US Department of Justice and make such information publicly available;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL encourage states to enact legislation that provides a private right of action for civil rights violation without a defense of qualified immunity;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL supports federal legislation to reform qualified immunity for law enforcement under Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL calls on Congress and the President to create a national taskforce of law enforcement, state legislators Governors, state attorneys general, local officials, and stakeholder organizations to recommend and implement innovative reforms that build upon the above policies; and

SPONSOR(S): Senator Raumesh Akbari (TN), Senator Kevin Parker (NY), and Representative Karen Camper (TN)
Committee of Jurisdiction: Law, Justice, and Ethics Policy Committee
Certified by Committee Chair: Representative Reginald Meeks (KY)
Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2020
Ratification is certified by: Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter (SC), President

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Resolution LJE-21-30

A RESOLUTION TO STUDY AND DEVELOP REPARATION PROPOSALS FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS

WHEREAS, the institution of slavery, including both the transatlantic and domestic “trade” that existed from 1565 in colonial Florida and from 1619 to 1865, inclusive, within the other colonies that became the United States, including the federal and state governments, constitutionally and statutorily supported the institution of slavery;

WHEREAS, more than 4,000,000 Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the United States and the colonies that became the United States from 1619 to 1865;

WHEREAS, the native-born slave population expanded, and by 1860, the nation’s African- American slave population was 3.9 million (roughly 90 percent of the 4.4 million African Americans living in the U.S.);

WHEREAS, slavery that flourished in the United States constituted an immoral and inhumane deprivation of Africans’ life, liberty, African citizenship rights and cultural heritage, and denied them the fruits of their own labor;

WHEREAS, the 1852 Fugitive Slave Act, affirmed that enslavers who brought enslaved persons from other states were not affected by the anti-slavery clause in the constitution;

WHEREAS, in the 1857 Dred Scott decision, the United States Supreme Court held that African- American descendants of slaves were not, and could not become, citizens of the United States;

WHEREAS, laws permitted enslavers to subject enslaved persons to inhumane treatment as a matter of course: the “chattel” principle, which declared African American slaves to be property, not people, was used to justify enslavers’ torture, rape, mutilation, and murder of African- Americans;

WHEREAS, following the abolition of slavery, the United States government at the federal, state, and local levels continued to perpetuate, condone, and often profit from practices that continued to brutalize and disadvantage African Americans, including sharecropping, convict leasing, Jim Crow laws, redlining, unequal education, and disproportionately-harsh treatment at the hands of the criminal justice system;

WHEREAS, instructional resources and technologies are being used to deny the inhumanity of slavery and the crime against humanity of people of African descent in the United States.

WHEREAS, due to the historic and continued discrimination, African Americans continue to suffer debilitating economic, educational, and health hardships, including, but not limited to, all of the following:

Having nearly 1,000,000 Black people incarcerated in the U.S.;
An unemployment rate more than twice the current white unemployment rate;
An average of less than one-sixteenth of the wealth of white families, a disparity that has worsened not improved, over time;

WHEREAS, in 1988, The United States provided restitution to citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry, their spouses, and their families because they were confined to concentration camps during World War II. (50 U.S.C. §§ 4211-4220.);

WHEREAS, the U.S. government has made some payments for, and returned some, stolen land to certain Native American tribes, and provide native tribes with dedicated funding in most federal programs;

WHEREAS, following World War II, the United States partially funded German reparations to Holocaust victims through the Marshall Plan; and

WHEREAS, the United States currently administrates a reparations fund on behalf of France, distributing payments to former World War II prisoners who were transported to Nazi death camps on French trains.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) finds that African American descendants of enslaved persons merit inclusion in any reparations, restitution, assistance, economic support, and financial programs for which they would be eligible but for the fact that the lingering negative effects of the institution of slavery on living African Americans descendants of enslaved persons, continues in the United States today;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL calls on Congress to establish a Task Force comprised of 13 appointed members, to study and develop reparations proposals for African- Americans due to the aforementioned history above;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that members of such a Task Force shall be drawn from diverse backgrounds to represent the interests of communities of color, have experience working to implement racial justice reform, strong understanding of the history of the African American Community, and, to the extent possible represent geographically diverse areas of the country;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Task Force recommend appropriate remedies that consider, among other things, how any form of compensation should be awarded, through what instrumentalities, and who should be eligible for such compensation; and how to eliminate current state and federal laws that continue to disproportionately and negatively affect African Americans;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The Task Force will recommend appropriate ways to educate the American public on the Task Forces’ remedies in consideration of the findings on the matters described in the aforementioned history above;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL calls on Congress to request and obtain information from insurers licensed and doing business in the United States regarding any records of slaveholder insurance policies issued by any predecessor corporation during the slavery era;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Task Force may acquire directly from the head of any department, agency, or instrumentality of the executive branch of the Government, available information which the Task Force considers useful in the discharge of its duties;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, all departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the executive branch of the Government shall cooperate with the Task Force with respect to such information and shall furnish all information requested by the Task Force to the extent permitted by state and federal law;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Task force shall submit a completed written report of its initial findings and recommendations to Congress no later than one year after its first convening and in each subsequent year; and

SPONSOR(S): Senator Steven Bradford (CA)
Committee of Jurisdiction: Law, Justice, and Ethics Policy Committee
Certified by Committee Chair: Representative Reginald Meeks (KY)
Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2020
Ratification is certified by: Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter (SC), President

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Resolution LJE-21-33

A RESOLUTION ON EMERGENCY MENTAL HEALTH

WHEREAS, the National Black Caucus of State Legislatures (NBCSL) has long been committed to improving mental health programs and services;

WHEREAS, people with an untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during an encounter with the police, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center; and

WHEREAS, according to the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, Black adults in are more likely than white adults to report symptoms of emotional distress;

WHEREAS, although adults with untreated severe mental illness represent fewer than 1 in 50 U.S. adults, they account for at least 1 in 4 of fatal police shooting;

WHEREAS, Black and Latino men are two and half times more likely to die in a police encounter than white men;

WHEREAS, our nation has relied on jails and prisons as a substitute for mental health treatment;

WHEREAS, police officers are not adequately equipped to handle the complexities of mental illness;

WHEREAS, mental illness is not a crime and therefore people should not be criminalized for having a mental health crisis; and

WHEREAS, the nation needs an alternative to law enforcement to address mental health crisis.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) encourages state policymakers and their membership to advocate for an Emergency Mental Health Response Unit to be available to respond to mental health emergencies in our communities;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL encourages state legislators to explore legislation to establish an Emergency Mental Health Response Unit, in their respective states;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL supports increased mental health training for law enforcement to identify mental health emergencies, as well as training for Emergency Medical Technicians to identify and aid in mental health emergency;

SPONSOR(S): Senator Kevin Parker (NY)
Committee of Jurisdiction: Law, Justice, and Ethics Policy Committee
Certified by Committee Chair: Representative Reginald Meeks (KY)
Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2020
Ratification is certified by: Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter (SC), President

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