This is Why We Need Limits on Qualified Immunity: My Bill to Make Police Officers Civilly Liable for Misconduct

                                      

Last summer, several acts of police brutality against Black Americans and people of color forced Virginia to confront a long history of oppression and racial injustice. Although we have made substantial progress toward racial equality, implicit and explicit racism still persists in Virginia and across America.  

Last session we made significant progress modernizing the training, hiring, firing, discipline, and professional accountability for police departments.  However, some issues were too complex to take up in a special session including enhancing civil court remedies for individuals who are harmed by law enforcement officers who violate constitutional and legal standards.

This is often referred to as “qualified immunity,” although that is a very small part of the overall civil legal accountability framework.   Qualified immunity shields government officials from consequences liability when they commit legal violations that are not well established in the law. 

Click Here to Read Overview of how the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on qualified immunity cases

In the special session, the House of Delegates passed a bill that purported to change the liability standards for law enforcement.  I supported greater access to justice, but the proposed legislation was rife with unintended consequences.  Basing liability on all constitutional violations provides a remedy for firearms rights or religious freedom advocates to challenge statutes such as our recently enacted firearm violence prevention laws.  The Constitution of Virginia also contains rights that are not in the United States Bill of Rights including the right to hunt and fish or victims’ rights which create uncertain consequences.  The special session was not long enough for us to fully consider the implications of this legislation and what comes next. 

In addition, during the special session, the Senate of Virginia passed legislation creating an officer Code of Conduct, prohibited chokeholds and shooting into moving motor vehicles, created a duty to intervene and set standards for use of deadly force.  These standards will eliminate the applicability of any immunity defenses when those statutes apply. 

 

Click Here to Read through all the provisions of the Policing Reform Bill (SB 5030) 

Click Here to Read HB 5013 Introduced by Del. Jeffrey Bourne

By establishing these standards, we can ensure that there are consequences for police officers who act outside of the line of duty. At the time, I said, “If there is any ambiguity of what the law is, qualified immunity kicks in. By making these changes to the Code of Virginia, by clarifying what is legal and what is not legal, we are taking qualified immunity out of the mix.” This bill established enforcement mechanisms within criminal law in the Code of Virginia. 

Full Statement from Senate Democrats after passing Policing 

Reform Package

This session, I am bringing forward a bill that clearly states that police officers who violate the laws we passed last session and their employer will have civil liability. This will provide justice to victims of police and restore some balance to our justice system.