Bill > HR7290

This bill, titled the "Qualified Immunity Accountability Act," proposes changes to existing federal law to revise the standards for accountability when a person dies as a result of rights being violated by someone acting under the authority of law. Specifically, it amends Section 242 of title 18, United States Code, by changing the mental state required for a conviction from "willfully" to "knowingly or recklessly," removing the possibility of a death sentence in such cases, and defining an act as resulting in death if it was a substantial factor contributing to that death. Furthermore, the bill reforms qualified immunity, a legal protection that often shields government officials from liability in civil lawsuits unless their conduct violates clearly established statutory or constitutional rights, and no reasonable official could have known the conduct was unlawful. The bill amends Section 1979 of the Revised Statutes (commonly known as 42 U.S.C. § 1983) to eliminate the defenses of good faith or a reasonable belief that conduct was lawful, and it also removes the defense that constitutional rights were not clearly established at the time of the violation for local law enforcement officers and federal investigative or law enforcement officers.