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Has Sen. Tim Scott been working on his police reform bill for years?

Friday, June 26, 2020
By Claire Zimmerman
YES

In response to a 2015 shooting of a Black South Carolinian by a police officer, one of the state's senators introduced a police-reform bill named after the victim, Walter Scott. The bill, which would require states that receive federal law-enforcement funding to release details surrounding officer-related shootings, never received a vote.

Sen. Tim Scott (no relation to the victim) reintroduced the bill in 2017 and again in 2018. In June 2020, the bill was incorporated into a more comprehensive police-reform bill, called the JUSTICE act, favored by Senate Republicans as a response to nationwide pressures for police reform. That bill has so far been blocked by Democratic opposition.

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