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 Mis-
sissippi, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. NOR-
TON, 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 Com-
mittee 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Police Exercising Ab-
solute Care With Everyone Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. USE OF FORCE BY FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 
OFFICERS. 
(a) PROHIBITION ON LESS LETHAL FORCE.—A Fed-
eral law enforcement officer may not use any less lethal 
force unless such less lethal force is necessary and propor-
tional in order to effectuate an arrest of a person who 
the officer has probable cause to believe has committed 
a criminal offense, and only after exhausting reasonable 
alternatives to the use of such force. 
(b) PROHIBITION ON DEADLY USE OF FORCE.—A 
Federal law enforcement officer may not use deadly force 
against a person unless— 
(1) such force is necessary, as a last resort, to 
prevent imminent and serious bodily injury or death 
to the officer or another person; 
(2) the use of such forces creates no substantial 
risk of injury to a third person; and 
(3) reasonable alternatives to the use of such 
force have been exhausted. 
(c) REQUIREMENT TO GIVE VERBAL WARNING.— 
When feasible, prior to using force against a person, a 
Federal law enforcement officer shall identify himself or 
herself as a law enforcement officer, and issue a verbal 
warning to the person that the law enforcement officer 
seeks to apprehend, which warning includes— 
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(1) a request that the person surrender to the 
law enforcement officer; and 
(2) notifies the person that the law enforcement 
officer will use force against the person if the person 
resists arrest or flees. 
(d) GUIDANCE ON USE OF FORCE.—Not later than 
120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Attorney General, in consultation with impacted persons, 
communities, or organizations, including representatives 
of civil and human rights organizations, victims of police 
use of force, and representatives of law enforcement asso-
ciations, shall provide guidance to Federal law enforce-
ment agencies on the types of less lethal force and deadly 
force that are prohibited under subsections (a) and (b), 
and how a Federal law enforcement officer can assess 
whether the use of force is appropriate and necessary, and 
use the least amount of force when interacting with— 
(1) pregnant women; 
(2) children and youth under age 21; 
(3) elderly persons; 
(4) persons with mental, behavioral, or physical 
disabilities or impairments; 
(5) persons experiencing perceptual or cognitive 
impairments due to use of alcohol, narcotics, hallu-
cinogenic, or other drugs; 
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(6) persons suffering from a serious medical 
condition; and 
(7) persons with limited English proficiency. 
(e) TRAINING.—The Attorney General shall provide 
training to Federal law enforcement officers on interacting 
people described in paragraphs (1) through (7) of sub-
section (d). 
(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) DEADLY FORCE.—The term ‘‘deadly force’’ 
means force that creates a substantial risk of caus-
ing death or serious bodily injury, including the dis-
charge of a firearm, respiratory chokeholds, and 
multiple discharges of an electronic control weapon. 
(2) FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.— 
The term ‘‘Federal law enforcement officer’’ means 
any officer, agent, or employee of the United States 
authorized by law or by a Government agency to en-
gage in or supervise the prevention, detection, inves-
tigation, or prosecution of any violation of Federal 
criminal law. 
(3) LESS LETHAL FORCE.—The term ‘‘less le-
thal force’’ means any degree of force that is not 
likely to have lethal effect. 
(4) NECESSARY.—The term ‘‘necessary’’ means 
that another reasonable Federal law enforcement of-
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ficer would objectively conclude, under the totality of 
the circumstances, that there was no reasonable al-
ternative to the use of force. 
(5) REASONABLE
ALTERNATIVES.—The term 
‘‘reasonable alternatives’’ means tactics and methods 
used by a law enforcement officer to effectuate an 
arrest that do not unreasonably increase the risk 
posed to the law enforcement officer or another per-
son, including verbal communication, distance, warn-
ings, deescalation tactics and techniques, tactical 
repositioning, and other tactics and techniques in-
tended to stabilize the situation and reduce the im-
mediacy of the risk so that more time, options, and 
resources can be called upon to resolve the situation 
without the use of force. With respect to the use of 
deadly force, such term includes the use of less le-
thal force. 
(6) 
DEESCALATION
TACTICS
AND
TECH-
NIQUES.—The term ‘‘deescalation tactics and tech-
niques’’ means proactive actions and approaches 
used by a law enforcement officer to stabilize the sit-
uation so that more time, options, and resources are 
available to gain a person’s voluntary compliance 
and reduce or eliminate the need to use force, in-
cluding verbal persuasion, warnings, tactical tech-
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