Originally Posted on January 09, 2021

House Bill 841 (Police Licensing) was introduced, and we saw the final version of the bill for the first time on Friday night. As introduced the bill paints officers in a really bad public light for unfounded reasons. This was dumped on top of the other so-called "reform" bill ( HB163 -SFA2) that was introduced earlier in the week. Not all members of the Coalition had input on the bills as introduced. For those Coalition members consulted in advance the significant concerns we raised were not addressed. There is even now a movement afoot to add even more egregious provisions to these existing bills including the decriminalization of such things as heroin and Fentanyl. It is dangerous to try to ram these bills through on short notice in the lame duck session. We continue to be ready to discuss police modernization legislation, but it is imperative that such legislation be fully vetted when there is more time to do so in the spring legislative session. As we advised earlier the General Assembly has until January 13th to pass this legislation before the next duly elected General Assembly takes office. NOTHING HAS BEEN CALLED FOR A VOTE YET!!!… please keep up the good work… Time is of the essence. Please continue to contact your legislators and inform them of your opposition to this bill.