119-hr503

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 503 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 503

 To amend the Revised Statutes to codify the defense of qualified 
 immunity in the case of any action under 

section 1979, and for other 
 purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 January 16, 2025

Ms. Foxx (for herself and Mr. Van Orden) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend the Revised Statutes to codify the defense of qualified 
 immunity in the case of any action under 

section 1979, 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 ``Qualified Immunity Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds the following:

    (1) Qualified immunity is intended for all but the plainly 
 incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law and is meant 
 to give government officials breathing room to make reasonable 
 mistakes of fact and law.

    (2) The Supreme Court has observed that qualified immunity 
 balances two important interests, the need to hold law 
 enforcement officers accountable when they exercise power 
 irresponsibly and the need to shield officers from harassment, 
 distraction, and liability when they perform their duties 
 reasonably.

SEC. 3. CODIFICATION OF QUALIFIED IMMUNITY.

    (a) In General.--

Section 1979 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 
1983) is amended--

    (1) by inserting ``

    (a) In General--'' before ``Every 
 person''; and

    (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
 ``

    (b) Applicability to Law Enforcement Officers.--
 ``

    (1) A law enforcement officer subject to an action under 
 this section in their individual capacity shall not be found 
 liable if such law enforcement officer establishes that--
 ``
        (A) the right, privilege, or immunity secured by 
 the Constitution or Federal law was not clearly 
 established at the time of their deprivation by the law 
 enforcement officer, or that at this time, the state of 
 the law was not sufficiently clear that every 
 reasonable law enforcement officer would have 
 understood that the conduct alleged constituted a 
 violation of the Constitution or Federal law; or
 ``
        (B) a court of competent jurisdiction had issued 
 a final decision on the merits holding, without 
 reversal, vacatur, or preemption, that the specific 
 conduct alleged to be unlawful was consistent with the 
 Constitution and Federal laws.
 ``

    (2) A law enforcement agency or unit of local government 
 who employed a law enforcement officer subject to an action 
 under subsection

    (a) , shall not be liable for such action if 
 the law enforcement officer is found not liable under paragraph

    (1) and was acting within the scope of their employment.
 ``
            (c) === Definitions. ===
-In this section:
 ``

    (1) Law enforcement officer.--The term `law enforcement 
 officer' means any Federal, State, Tribal, or local official 
 who is authorized by law to engage in or supervise the 
 prevention, detection, investigation, or the incarceration of 
 any person for any violation of law, and has the statutory 
 powers of arrest or apprehension, including police officers and 
 other agents of a law enforcement agency.
 ``

    (2) Law enforcement agency.--The term `law enforcement 
 agency' means any Federal, State, Tribal, or local public 
 agency engaged in supervision, prevention, detection, 
 investigation, or the incarceration of any person for any 
 violation of law, and has the statutory powers of arrest or 
 apprehension.''.

    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made under subsection

    (a) shall 
take effect on the date that is 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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