I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4359 

To provide that a Federal law enforcement officer may not use deadly force 

or less lethal force unless such force is necessary, to encourage States 

to adopt similar laws or policies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 

Mr. KHANNA (for himself, Mr. CLAY, Mr. RUSH, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. VEASEY, 

Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. JACKSON

LEE, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. CARSON of 

Indiana, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. POCAN, Ms. WATERS, and Ms. 

JAYAPAL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide that a Federal law enforcement officer may not 

use deadly force or less lethal force unless such force 

is necessary, to encourage States to adopt similar laws 

or policies, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Police Exercising Ab5 solute Care With Everyone Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. USE OF FORCE BY FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 

2 OFFICERS. 

3 (a) PROHIBITION ON LESS LETHAL FORCE.—A Fed4 eral law enforcement officer may not use any less lethal 

5 force unless such less lethal force is necessary and propor6 tional in order to effectuate an arrest of a person who 

7 the officer has probable cause to believe has committed 

8 a criminal offense, and only after exhausting reasonable 

9 alternatives to the use of such force. 

10 (b) PROHIBITION ON DEADLY USE OF FORCE.—A 

11 Federal law enforcement officer may not use deadly force 

12 against a person unless— 

13 (1) such force is necessary, as a last resort, to 

14 prevent imminent and serious bodily injury or death 

15 to the officer or another person; 

16 (2) the use of such forces creates no substantial 

17 risk of injury to a third person; and 

18 (3) reasonable alternatives to the use of such 

19 force have been exhausted. 

20 (c) REQUIREMENT TO GIVE VERBAL WARNING.— 

21 When feasible, prior to using force against a person, a 

22 Federal law enforcement officer shall identify himself or 

23 herself as a law enforcement officer, and issue a verbal 

24 warning to the person that the law enforcement officer 

25 seeks to apprehend, which warning includes— 


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1 (1) a request that the person surrender to the 

2 law enforcement officer; and 

3 (2) notifies the person that the law enforcement 

4 officer will use force against the person if the person 

5 resists arrest or flees. 

6 (d) GUIDANCE ON USE OF FORCE.—Not later than 

7 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

8 Attorney General, in consultation with impacted persons, 

9 communities, or organizations, including representatives 

10 of civil and human rights organizations, victims of police 

11 use of force, and representatives of law enforcement asso12 ciations, shall provide guidance to Federal law enforce13 ment agencies on the types of less lethal force and deadly 

14 force that are prohibited under subsections (a) and (b), 

15 and how a Federal law enforcement officer can assess 

16 whether the use of force is appropriate and necessary, and 

17 use the least amount of force when interacting with— 

18 (1) pregnant women; 

19 (2) children and youth under age 21; 

20 (3) elderly persons; 

21 (4) persons with mental, behavioral, or physical 

22 disabilities or impairments; 

23 (5) persons experiencing perceptual or cognitive 

24 impairments due to use of alcohol, narcotics, hallu25 cinogenic, or other drugs; 


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1 (6) persons suffering from a serious medical 

2 condition; and 

3 (7) persons with limited English proficiency. 

4 (e) TRAINING.—The Attorney General shall provide 

5 training to Federal law enforcement officers on interacting 

6 people described in paragraphs (1) through (7) of sub7 section (d). 

8 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) DEADLY FORCE.—The term ‘‘deadly force’’ 

10 means force that creates a substantial risk of caus11 ing death or serious bodily injury, including the dis12 charge of a firearm, respiratory chokeholds, and 

13 multiple discharges of an electronic control weapon. 

14 (2) FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.— 

15 The term ‘‘Federal law enforcement officer’’ means 

16 any officer, agent, or employee of the United States 

17 authorized by law or by a Government agency to en18 gage in or supervise the prevention, detection, inves19 tigation, or prosecution of any violation of Federal 

20 criminal law. 

21 (3) LESS LETHAL FORCE.—The term ‘‘less le22 thal force’’ means any degree of force that is not 

23 likely to have lethal effect. 

24 (4) NECESSARY.—The term ‘‘necessary’’ means 

25 that another reasonable Federal law enforcement ofVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:16 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4359.IH H4359

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1 ficer would objectively conclude, under the totality of 

2 the circumstances, that there was no reasonable al3 ternative to the use of force. 

4 (5) REASONABLE ALTERNATIVES.—The term 

5 ‘‘reasonable alternatives’’ means tactics and methods 

6 used by a law enforcement officer to effectuate an 

7 arrest that do not unreasonably increase the risk 

8 posed to the law enforcement officer or another per9 son, including verbal communication, distance, warn10 ings, deescalation tactics and techniques, tactical 

11 repositioning, and other tactics and techniques in12 tended to stabilize the situation and reduce the im13 mediacy of the risk so that more time, options, and 

14 resources can be called upon to resolve the situation 

15 without the use of force. With respect to the use of 

16 deadly force, such term includes the use of less le17 thal force. 

18 (6) DEESCALATION TACTICS AND TECH19 NIQUES.—The term ‘‘deescalation tactics and tech20 niques’’ means proactive actions and approaches 

21 used by a law enforcement officer to stabilize the sit22 uation so that more time, options, and resources are 

23 available to gain a person’s voluntary compliance 

24 and reduce or eliminate the need to use force, in25 cluding verbal persuasion, warnings, tactical techVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:16 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4359.IH H4359

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1 niques, slowing down the pace of an incident, wait2 ing out a subject, creating distance between the offi3 cer and the threat, and requesting additional re4 sources to resolve the incident. 

5 (7) TOTALITY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES.—The 

6 term ‘‘totality of the circumstances’’ means all cred7 ible facts known to the law enforcement officer lead8 ing up to and at the time of the use of force, includ9 ing the actions of the person against whom the law 

10 enforcement officer uses such force and the actions 

11 of the law enforcement officer. 

12 (g) LIMITATION ON JUSTIFICATION DEFENSE.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 51 of title 18, 

14 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

15 end the following: 

16 ‘‘§ 1123. Limitation on justification defense for Fed17 eral law enforcement officers 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It is not a defense to an offense 

19 under section 1111 or 1112 that the use of less lethal or 

20 deadly force was justified in the case of a Federal law en21 forcement officer— 

22 ‘‘(1) whose use of such force was inconsistent 

23 with section 2 of the Police Exercising Absolute 

24 Care With Everyone Act of 2019; or 


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1 ‘‘(2) whose gross negligence, leading up to and 

2 at the time of the use of force, contributed to the 

3 necessity of the use of such force. 

4 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘Federal 

5 law enforcement officer’ has the meaning given such term 

6 in section 115.’’. 

7 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec8 tions for chapter 51 of title 18, United States Code, 

9 is amended by inserting after the item related to 

10 section 1122 the following: 

‘‘1123. Limitation on justification defense for Federal law enforcement officers.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON THE RECEIPT OF FUNDS UNDER 

12 THE EDWARD BYRNE MEMORIAL JUSTICE AS13 SISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM. 

14 (a) LIMITATION.—A State or other jurisdiction may 

15 not receive funds that the State or other jurisdiction would 

16 otherwise receive under subpart 1 of part E of title I of 

17 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 

18 (34 U.S.C. 10151 et seq.) for any fiscal year in which 

19 the State or other jurisdiction does not have in place a 

20 law that is consistent with section 2 of this Act and section 

21 1123 of title 18, United States Code, as determined by 

22 the Attorney General. 

23 (b) SUBSEQUENT ENACTMENT.—In the case that 

24 funds described in subsection (a) are withheld from a 


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1 State or other jurisdiction pursuant to subsection (a), and 

2 the State or other jurisdiction subsequently enacts or puts 

3 in place a law described in subsection (a), and dem4 onstrates substantial efforts to enforce such law, the State 

5 or other jurisdiction shall be eligible, in the subsequent 

6 fiscal year, to receive the total amount that the State or 

7 other jurisdiction would have received in each fiscal year 

8 for which funds were withheld, not to exceed the total that 

9 such State or other jurisdiction would have received for 

10 a period of 5 years. 

11 (c) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 120 days after the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, 

13 in consultation with impacted persons, communities, orga14 nizations (including representatives of civil and human 

15 rights organizations), individuals against whom a law en16 forcement officer used force, and representatives of law 

17 enforcement associations, shall make guidance available to 

18 States and other jurisdictions on the criteria that the At19 torney General will use in determining whether the State 

20 or jurisdiction has in place a law described in subsection 

21 (a). 

22 (d) APPLICATION.—This section shall apply begin23 ning in the first fiscal year that begins after the date that 

24 is one year after the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 4. GRANTS FOR USE OF FORCE POLICY. 

2 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au3 thorized to make grants to units of local government in 

4 States that do not have in place a law that is substantially 

5 similar to section 2 of this Act and section 1123 of title 

6 18, United States Code, and which State did not receive 

7 funds under subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus 

8 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 

9 10151 et seq.) pursuant to section 3, if the law enforce10 ment agency of that unit of local government has in place 

11 a policy related to the use of force by law enforcement 

12 officers that is consistent with section 2 of this Act. 

13 (b) APPLICATION.—A unit of local government seek14 ing a grant under this section may submit to the Attorney 

15 General an application at such time, in such manner, and 

16 containing such information as the Attorney General may 

17 reasonably require. 

18 (c) AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant under this sec19 tion shall be an amount which is equal to the amount the 

20 unit of local government would otherwise have received 

21 under subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime 

22 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 

23 et seq.), if the State in which the unit of local government 

24 is located had received funds under such program. 

25 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—A grant under this section may 

26 be used for the purposes described in section 501 of title 


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1 I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 

2 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10152). 

3 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

4 authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec5 essary to carry out this section for each fiscal year, begin6 ning 2020 through 2024. 

Æ 


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