HR 3560 · 113th Congress 2013–2015, ended

Universal RESPECT Act

Fact sheet

Latest action · Jan 9, 2014 Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedNov 20, 2013
  2. Passed HouseNot reached
  3. Passed SenateNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Universal Racial Profiling Elimination Standards, and Procedures for Effective Constitutional Rights Training Act or the Universal RESPECT Act - Prohibits federal law enforcement agents from engaging in racial profiling. Requires: (1) the Attorney General to review all applicable law enforcement policies and procedures to ensure that they are sufficient to eliminate racial profiling while performing official law enforcement duties, and (2) the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure that no recipient of covered federal law enforcement assistance engages in racial profiling.

Directs the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) to develop and incorporate any necessary changes to all training, curriculum, and professional certification classes to ensure consistency with the requirements of this Act.

Requires: (1) the Director to identify, develop, and update model practices that prevent racial profiling; and (2) the Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation Board (FLETAB) to incorporate such practices into the law enforcement community through the Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation Model Practice Clearinghouse and other means.

Directs FLETAB to: (1) develop a standard of review of anti-racial profiling components of law enforcement training curricula, and (2) deny accreditation or reaccreditation to academies, programs, and instructors not meeting such standard.

Requires: (1) the Officer and the Office for State and Local Government Coordination to review the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) or equivalent program of the states to assess the anti-racial profiling education component of such curricula, and (2) the Secretary to notify states of deficiencies in the curriculum and to make available to the states assistance to develop sufficient curriculum to meet minimum anti-racial profiling standards.

Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require state, local, and tribal government recipients of DHS grants for law enforcement to certify that they do not engage in racial profiling.

Directs the Officer and the FLETC to develop guidance, outreach, training, and programs that include civil rights and civil liberties training, in particular programs designed to prevent racial profiling.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop and distribute to state, local, and tribal authorities courses and materials that comply with the Grant Programs Directorate Information Bulletin No. 373 or successor bulletin for integration into the curricula for recruits and recurrent training for experienced law enforcement officers; and (2) make available to the states assistance to develop sufficient curriculum to meet minimum anti-racial profiling standards.

Requires guidance for DHS grants for law enforcement to inform recipients that expenditures on any training, programs, presentations, and speakers that are acquired from an entity other than DHS must be approved in advance by the Chief Privacy Officer and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Grants the Officer primary jurisdiction over all matters relating to the review, implementation, and oversight of the requirements of this Act.

Requires the Officer: (1) using information gained by investigations of complaints and information indicating possible abuses of civil rights or civil liberties by DHS employees and officials or that are related to DHS activities, to make recommendations to DHS for improvements in policy, supervision, training, and practice related to civil rights or civil liberties or for the relevant office to review the matter and take appropriate action; and (2) to review and assess information alleging abuses of civil rights, civil liberties, and racial and ethnic profiling by law enforcement agencies receiving grants or assistance from DHS. Requires each DHS component and executive agency to ensure that it provides the Officer with access to requested information within 30 days after the Officer requests it. Authorizes the Officer to require access by subpoena to any institution or entity outside of the federal government and any record relating to such institution or entity that is the subject of or related to an investigation.

Authorizes the Officer to: (1) request the assistance of the Inspector General to investigate compliance with civil rights protection standards and complaints of racial profiling by law enforcement agencies; and (2) suspend the eligibility of a state, local, or tribal law enforcement agency to receive grants or training at federal law enforcement training facilities for violating this Act until the practices of the agency are brought into compliance.

Requires law enforcement entities receiving grants or training from DHS to: (1) collect data on all routine or spontaneous investigatory activities, (2) provide that the data collected shall include detail sufficient to permit an analysis of whether a law enforcement agency is engaging in racial profiling, (3) utilize a standardized form that shall be made available to law enforcement agencies, (4) maintain all data collected for not less than four years, and (5) protect the privacy of individuals whose data is collected.

Directs the Officer to receive and maintain data from the states on: (1) the implementation of racial profiling education curricula in state POSTor equivalent state-level program peace officer certification, (2) the adoption rate by state POST programs of the FLETAB model practices on racial profiling, (3) the number of credible complaints of improper racial profiling practices filed against state law enforcement entities, (4) the disposition of such complaints, and (5) the disciplinary action by state law enforcement entities against officers and agents adjudicated guilty of improper racial profiling practices.

Requires the Secretary's annual report on the Officer to include a section related to the enforcement of this Act.

Cosponsors 69

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Nov 20, 2013 to Sep 17, 2014, with 2 there on the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-MSBennie G. ThompsonOriginalNov 20, 2013
D-MIJohn Conyers, Jr.OriginalNov 20, 2013
D-TXAl GreenNov 21, 2013
D-FLAlcee L. HastingsNov 21, 2013
D-INAndré CarsonNov 21, 2013
D-CABarbara LeeNov 21, 2013
D-ILBobby L. RushNov 21, 2013
D-LACedric L. RichmondNov 21, 2013
D-PAChaka FattahNov 21, 2013
D-NYCharles B. RangelNov 21, 2013
D-FLCorrine BrownNov 21, 2013
D-ILDanny K. DavisNov 21, 2013
D-GADavid ScottNov 21, 2013
D-NJDonald M. Payne, Jr.Nov 21, 2013
D-MDDonna F. EdwardsNov 21, 2013

Actions 5

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Jan 9, 2014Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.
  2. Dec 13, 2013Referred to the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications.
  3. Dec 13, 2013Referred to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency.
  4. Nov 20, 2013Introduced in House
  5. Nov 20, 2013Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Nov 20, 2013Introduced in House

Support LegiList

This page is free, carries no paywall, and is built and maintained by one person. If the record here is useful to you, a few dollars keeps it going.

Processed by Stripe in a separate window. LegiList never sees card details.

Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.