The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would ban chokeholds, require that deadly force only be used as a last resort in arrests, and effectively end qualified immunity.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) signed a bill Wednesday ending qualified immunity for all government workers, including police. New Mexico is the first state to end qualified immunity for all public employees.
The qualified immunity doctrine is used in state and federal court, so it's unclear how a city can revoke the potential protection it provides to officers.
The bill would ban all neck restraints, including chokeholds and the kind used on Floyd as well as no-knock warrants in drug cases. It would also end the application of the doctrine of qualified immunity for law enforcement officers.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and former Rep. Justin Amash, a Libertarian from Michigan, first introduced the legislation last year in the wake of anti-police protests and riots following the in-custody death of George Floyd.
Activists have launched a political and legislative campaign to make it even easier to sue you.
The bill also raises the cap for damages paid to victims and allows jurisdictions to revoke an officer's pension.
The legislation, which would have prohibited an officer from using sovereign or qualified immunity as a defense in court, was set aside to be studied by the Virginia Crime Commission.
“We are now united in a coalition that is resolved to end this get-out-of-jail free card for bad cops,” Ben Cohen told reporters during the briefing. “It is now time to shift from protest to policy.”
A state senate version of the bill would have removed qualified immunity for individual police officers, potentially exposing them to civil lawsuits. This provision was eliminated from the house version of the bill.