[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1489 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1489

 To permit vicarious liability claims against an employer of a person 
who, under color of law, subjects another to the deprivation of rights, 
                        and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 2, 2021

  Mr. Cohen introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

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                                 A BILL


 
 To permit vicarious liability claims against an employer of a person 
who, under color of law, subjects another to the deprivation of rights, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Civil Rights Enhancement and Law 
Enforcement Accountability Improvement Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. VICARIOUS LIABILITY.

    Section 1979 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1983) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a)'' before ``Every''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) In any action brought under subsection (a), the employer of a 
law enforcement officer acting under color of any law described in such 
subsection shall be vicariously liable for the acts or omissions of the 
officer committed within the scope of employment in the same manner and 
to the same extent as a private employer is liable for the negligent 
acts of its employee under the laws of the State, Territory, or the 
District of Columbia. For purposes of this subsection, a law 
enforcement officer acting under color of law shall be deemed to be 
acting within the course and scope of employment (regardless of whether 
the act of the law enforcement officer was unconstitutional).
    ``(c) It shall not be a defense against any claim for vicarious 
liability under subsection (b) that a law enforcement officer has 
immunity in any action against the law enforcement officer under 
subsection (a). Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting, 
providing, or extending any extant immunity to a law enforcement 
officer.
    ``(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude 
liability under any other theory of law for deprivations actionable 
under subsection (a) caused by a law enforcement officer or an employer 
of such law enforcement officer.''.
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