CBO responds to a request for information about intergovernmental mandates contained in H.R. 1280, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
The bill would require all state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to report demographic data to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for all parties involved in law enforcement actions—including traffic stops and the use of deadly force. CBO has determined that provision is an inter-governmental mandate as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) that would exceed the threshold established in UMRA of $85 million in 2021, adjusted annually for inflation.
More than 18,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide would be affected by the bill’s requirements. All would incur costs for training and for data collection, management, and reporting. Using information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement associations nationwide, CBO expects that more than 6,000 agencies would either need to upgrade or to invest in new technology to comply with the new reporting requirements.
Also using information from the FBI and law enforcement experts, CBO estimates that the costs across all intergovernmental entities would total several hundred million dollars annually to collect, manage, and transmit data to DOJ. Those costs would be higher the first year after the bill was enacted, as agencies made significant investments in technology.
