A bill that as originally introduced would have stripped funding from local law enforcement agencies if all individuals required to take specific trainings did not complete the trainings has passed out of the House with amendments.

As amended House Bill 1503 would require each local law enforcement agency to report to Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention every two years on the agencies policies and procedures on use of force de-escalation training. Provisions stripping funding for failure to complete trainings have been removed.

MACo opposed the bill as introduced out of concern that it may have the unintended consequence of stripping a law enforcement agency of nearly all its funding if even just one officer is unable to complete the training. While counties understood the need to enforce compliance with required law enforcement trainings, they did not believe that the penalty should come at the expense of public safety.

Follow MACo’s advocacy efforts during the 2017 legislative session here.