Supporters hope George Floyd Justice in Policing Act gains momentum after trial

(FOX 9) - In the wake of the Derek Chauvin verdict comes a renewed call from the White House to address police reform in the United States.

President Joe Biden wants the Senate to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which is suddenly getting a lot of discussion.

It’s not just a Minneapolis or Minnesota issue anymore, but it needs a lot more momentum to actually get to the President’s desk.

In a call with the Floyd family and their attorney Ben Crump, Biden supported the legislation saying, "That and a lot more."

"The power of what we want to do in the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act is to ban some of the most egregious uses of force," said Sen. Tina Smith. "Which tragically resulted in the death, the murder, of George Floyd."

The bill in congress would change a wide range of policing policies and accountability.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the act would make it easier to federally prosecute police misconduct by lowering the standard from "willful" to "knowing" or "reckless."

It creates a framework to "prevent and remedy racial profiling" by federal, state and local law enforcement. It also restricts the use of no-knock search warrants.

Smith and Sen. Amy Klobuchar authored a provision to ban chokeholds, too.

The act also establishes a police officer registry, requires the Department of Justice to create accreditation standards for law enforcement agencies, requires racial profiling training for officers and requires officers to intervene when another uses excessive force.

"We all know there’s a lot of good police officers out there, but then there are some that have been going from department to department and there’s no record of the discipline and other things and so that would make all of that," said Klobuchar. "Create more accountability so there’s a lot of really important things in the bill."

The George Floyd Justice Act passed the House in March with just one Republican vote. It will need at least 10 Republicans in the Senate to avoid a filibuster, but supporters hope the jury verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial will give the bill some urgency.

"And if there was any moment, this is the moment to get it done," Klobuchar said.