Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Authorization Act

This bill rewrites the law governing the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the Department of Homeland Security. It sets out the Officer's duties, including reviewing complaints of civil rights abuses and profiling by Department employees, assessing new policies before they take effect, leading equal employment and language access programs, and posting summaries of investigations online. Complaints would first be referred to the Inspector General, and complainants would be notified within 30 days that their complaint was received. Department components would have to respond to the Officer's recommendations within 45 days, and the Officer could appeal disagreements to the Secretary. Each operational component would have a career civil rights officer, and the Officer would report to Congress each year.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Al Green Democrat sponsor
• 22 cosponsors