Eric Williams Correctional Officer Protection Act of 2015
Latest action. Became public lawWhat a bill becomes when enacted, numbered by Congress and order of enactment: Public Law 119-4 is the 4th law of the 119th Congress.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) No: 114-133.
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The expanded summary of the Senate passed version is repeated here.)
Eric Williams Correctional Officer Protection Act of 2015
(Sec. 2) This bill amends the federal criminal code to require the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to issue oleoresin capsicum spray (i.e., pepper spray) to officers and employees who respond to emergency situations at high-security, medium-security, and administrative facilities.
Officers and employees may use pepper spray to reduce violent acts by prisoners and visitors.
An officer of employee must complete a training course prior to receiving pepper spray and annually thereafter on its use.
(Sec. 3) The Government Accountability Office must: (1) evaluate the effect of issuing pepper spray on reducing crime and violence in high-security, medium-security, and administrative facilities; (2) evaluate the advisability of issuing pepper spray at low- or minimum-security facilities; and (3) recommend safety improvements for BOP officers and employees.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Public Law" stage on March 9, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
This bill has been enacted. It is law.
The record's latest action, on March 9, 2016: Became Public Law No: 114-133.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Patrick Toomey (R-PA) introduced it on January 22, 2015, and 9 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 2 Democrats, 7 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenatePassed
- HousePassed
- PresidentSigned into law