Tim Scott to introduce GOP police reform bill next week

Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) said on Thursday that he will introduce Republicans’ police reform bill by the middle of next week.

Scott was appointed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to lead a working group of GOP senators tasked with proposing reform legislation after George Floyd’s death in the custody of Minneapolis police.

Scott said that he expects to get finalized text of the legislation Thursday night or Friday. 

“We’ve had a couple of additions to some of the things that we’re going to add to the bill, so we’ll have a text back on the current draft tonight, latest tomorrow, with all the corrections in it,” he said.

“After meeting with members of Congress and more senators, I think we’ll probably add two to three more items to the list and then hopefully by Monday, I can get all that drafted up and in the package, which gives me a chance by Tuesday to drop it or by Wednesday at the latest,” he added.

According to a draft circulated earlier this week, Scott’s bill would, among other provisions, increase funding for police body cameras and penalize not wearing them by reducing grants. It would also tie grant eligibility to reporting uses of force that cause death or serious injury to the FBI and to states maintaining a system that shares police records. 

Democrats have appeared skeptical that Scott’s forthcoming proposal would go far enough for them to support it. House and Senate Democrats unveiled a sweeping bill earlier this week that banned chokeholds and overhauled “qualified immunity,” which shields police offers from lawsuits, an idea dismissed by Republicans as a non-starter.

“Tim Scott is a good person, and I’ve worked with him, talked to him and respect him. I hope that he’ll step up. He can make a significant and historic contribution if he can bring the Republicans to a point where they are truly supportive of meaningful reform,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). 

Scott has been leading a working group that also includes Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and GOP Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), John Cornyn (Texas), Ben Sasse (Neb.) and James Lankford (Okla.).

He also met with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner earlier this week, as well as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Thursday. 

“We agree on a lot of things … moving in the right direction,” Scott said after his meeting with Jordan.