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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Police-Reform Bills Highlight Start of MD General Assembly

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Wednesday, January 13, 2021   

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Influenced by months of nationwide protests of police misconduct, Maryland's General Assembly opens today with lawmakers introducing multiple bills to change the way law enforcement interacts with Black and Brown communities.

House Bill 151 would repeal the state's Law Enforcement Officer's Bill of Rights, or LOEBR, according to Joe Spielberger, public policy counsel with the ACLU of Maryland. He said the state's LEOBR goes too far in protecting officers from discipline in misconduct cases, and HB 151 would pave the way for community involvement in disciplining officers. As it now stands, he said, only other officers can investigate police abuses.

"It will allow investigations of officers to be done by people who are not sworn law enforcement officers," he said. "So, that allows local jurisdictions who choose to do so to start having the conversations around more independent civilian review boards, with the power to make disciplinary decisions."

The bill is sponsored by Del. Gabriel Acevero, D-Montgomery County. About 15 other states have LEOBRs, but Maryland's is considered among the most restrictive in terms of holding officers accountable.

Another reform bill would limit the use of force by law enforcement. Spielberger said Maryland is one of only nine states without legal limits on how officers can use force. House Bill 139 would raise legal standards and accountability so officers could use force only when absolutely necessary.

"The bill will have clear definitions of lethal force," he said, "to include things like chokeholds, multiple discharges of a Taser, strikes to the head or neck and other specific behaviors that we do not want officers to be using."

Other bills expected would remove police officers from schools and ensure transparent investigations into police conduct. They were created with recommendations by the Maryland House Workgroup on Police Reform and Accountability. It was established after widespread protests following last year's killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.


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