Working for Real Change: New Police Reform Bill Draft

Friends,

Last week I shared with you my thoughts after having been asked to speak at a memorial service for George Floyd, who was born in Fayetteville.

At the service, I made a commitment to the Floyd family and to our community that I would work across the aisle to make real change. I am working hard to keep that promise. After many conversations with many of you and leaders in our community, I reached out to Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate. It quickly became clear there are a number of needed reforms on which we all agree. It is also clear that it must be done in a way that supports good police officers who put their lives on the line every day to protect us.

I believe this issue should not be a partisan one – we should work together to enact change now. Unfortunately, while I agree with parts of the bill released this week by my colleagues across the aisle, it also includes partisan sections that would weaken legal standards that could discourage police officers from doing their jobs and nationalizes police standards which should be determined by communities and states. Our country is united in outrage over the killing of George Floyd and a determination to never allow it to happen again. We must seize this historic opportunity and make real change – while also supporting law enforcement.

With this in mind, I have released a discussion draft of common sense legislation that builds on the conversations I have had with Republicans and Democrats. Many of the ideas come from Senator Tim Scott, as well as the Democrat's legislation. You can see the entire list of ideas by visiting my website at Hudson.House.Gov, but some of the ideas are:

I believe this represents a roadmap for bipartisan consensus and meaningful reform. By working off of this draft legislation, I am confident we can work together to actually enact these reforms, not just talk about them or pass partisan bills that don't have the chance of becoming law. The time for talk and show votes is over. Now, we must act.

As I said at the memorial service last week, we have to come together to solve this. In the coming weeks, I'll continue to fight for these common sense solutions to enact real, meaningful and bipartisan police reform. I'll also continue to listen to your feedback, concerns and suggestions. We owe it to the memory of George Floyd, as well as good police officers who have died in the line of duty, to make these changes so that every member of our community feels safe and respected.

Until Next Week,

Richard Hudson

Member of Congress