Consider this to be part of the policy adoption formation process.
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In 2017, the version of the bill that made it into law included jail reforms like diverting inmates with mental health and substance abuse issues into treatment and mandating that independent law enforcement agencies investigate jail deaths.
But the original version also would have required officer training on racial profiling and implicit bias, suspension for any officer found to have repeatedly engaged in racial profiling, and limiting arrests for offenses that at most would end in a fine with no jail time. Those measures stalled the bill’s progress because of opposition from law enforcement groups and lawmakers concerned about unfunded mandates.
After Whitmire removed much of the language related to police encounters —though deescalation training remained — the bill passed both chambers. The version of the Sandra Bland Act signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott had become mostly a mental health and jail reform bill, and it lost support from Bland’s family.
A second attempt to pass a bill to limit nonjailable offenses in 2019 as a follow-up to the Sandra Bland Act was again killed after opposition by one of Texas’ largest police unions, confusion and procedural snafus in the House, and an apparent disinterest among Senate leadership.
