In the wake of high-profile incidents locally and across the country, Maryland Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin are each proposing legislation aimed at improving police-community relations and criminal justice systems. As reported in The Washington Post:

Her proposals focus on sharing of information from local law enforcement agencies with federal authorities. She would make the disclosure of training information a requirement of any grant, encourage sharing of crime data with the FBI, and make the Justice Department responsible for upgrading local police departments’ computer systems where such transmission is not technologically possible.

She noted that, with her urging, the Senate budget released by committee also includes $98 million for working on police-community relations and $295 million for juvenile justice programs.

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D), meanwhile, is planning to introduce this week the Baltimore Act (Building and Lifting Trust In Order to Multiply Opportunities and Racial Equality), which would prohibit racial profiling, restore voting rights and jury service for nonviolent former felons, reclassify some low-level drug felonies as misdemeanors, eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, and encourage the White House to “ban the box” when hiring federal contractors.

For more information read the full article in The Washington Post.