[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 75 (Friday, May 15, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E723]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          INTRODUCTION OF THE RACIAL PROFILING PREVENTION ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 15, 2015

  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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