Policy Brief: The People’s Response Act
Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01) was joined by Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), and Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) in leading the introduction of the People’s Response Act; federal legislation that provides an evidence-based, health-based, anti-racist, and balanced approach to public safety.
The purpose of the People’s Response Act is to establish within the Department of Health and Human Services a Division on Community Safety. The Community Safety Division would redefine “public safety” as a “Qualified Approach to Community Safety,” which would eliminate the intervention of carceral institutions, including law enforcement, criminal courts, prosecution, probation, child welfare services, or immigration enforcement in systems of care.
“The People’s Response Act will transform public safety into a system of care rather than criminalization, healing rather than incarceration, and prevention rather than policing. We are safer when our communities are well funded, our people are healthy and housed, and our children have nutritious meals, excellent schools, and green spaces to play in,” said Congresswoman Cori Bush.
The People’s Response Act would:
Establish a federal body (Division of Community Safety) to oversee grantmaking, research coordination, and other support for non-carceral, non-punitive approaches to public safety;
Fully fund public safety and improve crisis response by providing $7.5 billion in grant funding to state and local governments as well as community-based organizations;
Create thousands of emergency first-responder jobs (licensed social workers, mental health counselors, substance use counselors, and peer support specialists) by establishing a $2.5 billion First Responder Hiring Grant;
Focus resources, research, and capacity building on survivors of violence, communities of color, and groups that have been disproportionately harmed by the carceral system;
Establish a Community Advisory Board to oversee the activities of the Division and use a participatory budgeting process.
The full text of the legislation can be found HERE.
A one-pager of the bill can be found HERE.
A section-by-section of the legislation can be found HERE.
The website about the People’s Response Act from the Color of Change can be found HERE.
The resolution is co-sponsored by: Reps. Mondaire Jones (NY-17), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-00), Frederica Wilson (FL-24), Gerald Connolly (VA-11), Juan Vargas (CA-51), Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Jesus G. “Chuy” Garcia (IL-04), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Earl Blumenauer (OR-03), Alma Adams (NC-12), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Betty McCollum (MN-04), Tony Cardenas (CA-29), and Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11).
The resolution is endorsed by: The Drug Policy Alliance, Human Rights Campaign, American Civil Liberties Union, Civil Rights Corps, Color of Change, Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, Human Impact Partners (HIP), Treatment Advocacy Center, Reale Justice Network, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Movement for Black Lives, Black Lives Matter, The Bail Project, Center for Popular Democracy, National Immigration Project (NIPNLG), Center for Biological Diversity, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Project South, Center for Media Justice, Voters Organized to Educate, Parents Organized for Public Education, Community Law and Mediation Services of Northern California, Showing Up for Racial Justice, Dignity and Power Now, Zealous, Public Justice Center, Common Justice, Greenpeace US, National Black Worker Center, Freedom Agenda, Mijente, Young Women's Freedom Center, The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Families for Justice as Healing, Project Turnaround, Aligned Law, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children/ All of Us or None, Community Justice Action Fund, End Police Violence Collective, Equal Justice Under Law, Promise of Justice Initiative, MoveOn, National Employment Project, National Center for Law and Economic Justice, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, Youth Over Guns, Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE), and more.
What can you do to support this bill?
SIGN THE PETITION on Action Network