State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Divided Legislature passes police accountability bill, sending controversial measure to Baker

The Boston Globe: Legislative leaders have hailed the wide-ranging proposal as “landmark” legislation and among the most comprehensive bills in the country to pass in response to the flood of demonstrations sparked by the May killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer.

Facing dissent within their own party, leading Democrats on Tuesday framed it in historic terms, urging lawmakers to embrace a compromise that first surfaced only 24 hours earlier and after four months of closed-door talks. The bill would create a new system for holding officers accountable, standardize how they’re trained, and strip officers of legal protections in some cases of misconduct.

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