GA HR1550

Georgia House Resolution urging all governing authorities in the state with oversight of law enforcement to adopt eight specific use-of-force policies, including banning chokeholds and strangleholds, requiring de-escalation and verbal warnings before deadly force, mandating officers intervene to stop excessive force by other officers, banning shooting at moving vehicles, and requiring reporting of all uses or threats of force.

Cites racial disparities in policing, including Bureau of Justice Statistics data showing African Americans were more likely to be stopped by police and twice as likely to have force used or threatened against them, and a Guardian analysis finding racial minorities comprised 62.7% of unarmed people killed by police in 2015 despite being 37.4% of the population.

Notes a nearly tenfold racial wealth gap, with typical white family net worth at $171,000 compared to $17,150 for typical African American families in 2016, attributing the disparity to accumulated effects of slavery, Jim Crow laws, redlining, and discriminatory federal policies.

Urges establishment of a 30-percent minority business enterprise participation requirement under existing Georgia code provisions to combat economic inequality.

Calls on the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia to establish professional schools (law, medicine, engineering, architecture, food science) at historically Black institutions with equitable funding aligned with other university system institutions.