BREATHE Act

The BREATHE Act is a proposal for a federal omnibus bill, presented by the Electoral Justice Project of the Movement for Black Lives. The bill proposes to divest taxpayer dollars from policing and invest in alternate, community-based approaches to public safety. Champions of the bill include Ayanna Pressley, Democratic Representative of Massachusetts's 7th congressional district and Rashida Tlaib, Democratic Representative of Michigan's 13th congressional district. Tlaib said in a virtual unveiling of the BREATHE Act with the Movement for Black Lives that "Our communities in the 13th and I are committed to fully engaging with this legislation seriously and with a sense of urgency." Background The drafting of the legislation was preceded by killings of Black Americans by white police officers in 2020, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, as well as many others including Tony McDade, Natasha McKenna, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Elijah McClain, Pearlie Golden, Kayla Moore, Freddie Gray, Atatiana Jefferson, and Oscar Grant. The bill was unveiled on July 7, 2020 as protests and uprisings against police brutality were happening throughout the country. The Electoral Justice Project, a project of the Movement for Black Lives, drafted the BREATHE Act in response to police killings of black people in the United States. The bill is named after the phrase, "I can't breathe", a Black Lives Matter slogan associated with a number of African Americans who said the phrase multiple times before dying at the hands of police officers.