Tell your Senators - Stand strong against the sham “police reform” bill (JUSTICE Act, S3985)
Senator Dianne Feinstein
SF Office: (415) 393-0707
DC Office: (202) 224-3841
LA Office: (310) 914-7300
Fresno Office: (559) 485-7430
San Diego Office: (619) 231-9712
If you can't get through to one office, try another. There is no benefit to calling one office over another. Leaving a voicemail is as good as reaching a live person. Hate the phone? Resistbot is your friend.
Senator Kamala Harris
SF Office: (415) 981-9369
DC Office: (202) 224-3553
Sacramento Office: (916) 448-2787
LA Office: (213) 894-5000
San Diego Office: (619) 239-3884
Call the SF office first, but try the other offices if you can’t get through. If you can’t get a live person, leave a voicemail and also send a follow-up email written in your own words. Hate the phone? Resistbot is your friend.
Note: Due to shelter-in-place orders during the Covid-19 emergency, it may be more effective to use email or Resistbot to contact the MoC’s office. It is important to use your own words in emails to elected officials, but feel free to use our sample script below as a guide.
Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
[For Senator Harris] I am calling to thank Senator Harris for her opposition to the Republican Justice Act in its current form because it is a sham.
[For Senator Feinstein] I urge Senator Feinstein to oppose the Justice Act in its current form because it is a sham. The bill does not include any provision which will substantively address police brutality, the mistreatment of the black community by police, or increase accountability for law enforcement misconduct.
Unless the Senator is able to introduce amendments which lower the criminal intent standard to convict a law enforcement office for misconduct, limit qualified immunity for law enforcement, and authorize DoJ investigations of police departments for patterns/practice of discrimination, I ask the Senator to stand strong and filibuster this bill, denying Sen McConnell the votes needed for its passage.
Background
Under the leadership of Tim Scott, republican senators assembled the “Justice” Act (S. 3985) - a sham police reform legislation with no input from Democrats. This legislation has no mechanism to increase accountability for law enforcement misconduct, does not enhance transparency and data collection and does not substantively eliminate or prevent discriminatory policing practices.
Unlike the “Justice in Policing Act “ (H.R. 7120) , the Senate Bill does not eliminate qualified immunity as a defense to liability in a private civil action against a law enforcement officer, does not provide a system such as the National Police Misconduct Registry where police misconduct reports can be compiled, and does not mandate (but rather only recommends) reporting data on use of force incidents, training on racial profiling and the use of body cameras and timely reporting of the data captured by these cameras.
Our allies in the black community, and the NAACP legal fund also urge Senators to vote the current bill down stating: “ In this moment, we cannot support legislation that does not embody a strong accountability framework for police officers and other law enforcement who engage in misconduct as well as needed reforms to policing practices”