Introduction of the Racial Profiling Prevention Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce a bill, the Racial Profiling Prevention Act, to reestablish a federal grant program for states that desire to develop racial profiling laws, collect and maintain appropriate data, design programs to reduce racial profiling, and train law enforcement officers. We were successful in getting the program included in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) in 2005. Although the program was just a small piece of the large SAFETEA-LU bill, nearly half of the states competed and ultimately participated in the program for multiple years. This experience speaks to state desires to deal with their own policing and profiling issues and to the usefulness of the program to states. Racial profiling is a form of racial discrimination that has been thrust back into the forefront of national concern by the tragic deaths of Black men by police and national demonstrations and disturbances, most recently in Baltimore, Maryland.

Racial profiling on roads built with federal funds is a violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, because it amounts to a government subsidy of discrimination. However, while racial profiling remains more widespread in our country than most other forms of discrimination, there is little experience in developing legislation in this sensitive area to address racial profiling while allowing for appropriate law enforcement. My bill would help states to better develop their racial profiling laws and help train law enforcement to avoid these problems.

My bill imposes no mandates on states. It simply authorizes a grant program, but does not require states to participate. However, it provides resources that many states and localities clearly need if they are to curb racial profiling.

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