Rand Paul among state officials backing Justice for Breonna Taylor Act
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A bill that would prohibit no-knock warrants for federally funded law enforcement was reintroduced Monday by Sen. Rand Paul, Corey Booker and congressman Morgan McGarvey.
The Justice for Breonna Taylor Act would prevent federal, state and local law enforcement that receive federal funds from executing no-knock warrants, according to a release from McGarvey’s office.
The legislation would require federally funded law enforcement agencies to provide notice of their authority and purpose before they could execute a warrant, according to Paul’s office.
“It’s long past time to get rid of no-knock warrants,” Paul stated in the release. “This bill will effectively end no-knock raids in the United States, and I’m please to work with Rep. McGarvey and Sen. Booker on this important legislation.”
McGarvey stated that they passed a ban on no-knock warrants at the state and local level after Taylor’s death.
“If we do this in Kentucky, we can do this nationally,” McGarvey stated. “I’m proud to partner with Senators Rand Paul and Cory Booker to move this important bill forward in the House and Senate. The Justice for Breonna Taylor Act is going to protect people and keep our communities safe.”
Amber Duke, the ALCU-KY executive director, says no-knock warrants have been banned in Louisville, Kentucky and Lexington, Kentucky, along with being severely restricted in the Commonwealth after Taylor’s death. She says the ACLU of Kentucky supports the effort to limit no-knock warrants.
The full bill text can be viewed here.
UPDATE: News 40 spoke to the local chapter President of the NAACP, Ryan Dearbone, about this bill.
“The severity of not having laws with no knock warrants to ban it is it’s a dangerous practice because it protects the officers… it protects the people that are being potentially arrested. It protects everybody. I like the fact that now it ties it to federal funding so that way all states will need to comply and want to comply,” he says.
We’ll continue to follow this bill’s journey and give you any updates.
