The federal bill that was inspired in part by JLUSA’s #JustUs policy recommendations has passed in the House of Representatives!
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) who introduced the Correctional Facility Disaster Preparedness Act (HR.7940) in the House of Representatives, included this bill as an amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2023, which passed with bipartisan support.
Bipartisan support of this bill—which will ensure prison disaster response and recovery plans during natural disasters and public health emergencies—highlights the commonsense nature of protecting the health, safety, and civil rights of incarcerated individuals. JLUSA is celebrating this victory, while keeping our foot on the gas pedal for passage of the Senate version of this legislation (S.2592) and other actions to keep incarcerated people safe from undue harm.
JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA) President and CEO DeAnna Hoskins issued the following statement: “We recognize this is an important milestone, but we still have further to go in order to protect the lives of incarcerated people during natural disasters and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We need everyone to contact their Senators and call on them to support this legislation to get this to President Biden’s desk urgently.”
Contact: Stephen Roach Knight, stephen@jlusa.org / jlusa@ellecomm.com