H.R. 233: Qualified Immunity Act of 2023

Before you vote › Federal bills

H.R. 233: Qualified Immunity Act of 2023

118th Congress · introduced 2023-01-10 · Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues · Latest: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

federal

Save to my notebook What does this mean? Print

Official title

Qualified Immunity Act of 2023

Plain summary

Qualified Immunity Act of 2023 This bill provides statutory authority for qualified immunity for law enforcement officers in civil cases involving constitutional violations. Current law provides a statutory civil cause of action against state and local government actors (e.g., law enforcement officers) for violations of constitutional rights, also known as Section 1983 lawsuits. The Supreme Court has also found an implied cause of action against federal law enforcement officers in certain situations (e.g., Fourth Amendment violations), also known as Bivens lawsuits. However, under the judicial doctrine of qualified immunity, government officials performing discretionary duties are generally shielded from civil liability, unless their actions violate clearly established rights of which a reasonable person would have known. The bill provides statutory authority for these principles with respect to law enforcement officers. Specifically, under the bill, law enforcement officers are entitled to qualified immunity if (1) at the time of the alleged violation, the constitutional right at issue was not clearly established or the state of the law was not sufficiently clear for every reasonable officer to know that the conduct was unconstitutional; or (2) a court has held that the specific conduct at issue is constitutional. The bill applies to federal, state, and local law enforcement officers. It also specifies that law enforcement agencies and local governments may not be held liable if their officers are entitled to qualified immunity.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

The strongest published arguments

Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Banks, Jim [R-IN-3] · 40 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Daniel Meuser (R-PA), Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ), Mary E. Miller (R-IL), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Michael Guest (R-MS), Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), John R. Carter (R-TX), James R. Baird (R-IN), David Kustoff (R-TN), Mike Carey (R-OH), Andrew S. Clyde (R-GA), Andy Barr (R-KY), Don Bacon (R-NE), Richard Hudson (R-NC), Barry Moore (R-AL), Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Austin Scott (R-GA), Brad Finstad (R-MN), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Kat Cammack (R-FL), Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Victoria Spartz (R-IN), Thomas H. Kean, Jr. (R-NJ), Andrew R. Garbarino (R-NY), Michael Lawler (R-NY), Nicholas A. Langworthy (R-NY), Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), Carol D. Miller (R-WV), Andy Harris (R-MD)

Sponsor's campaign money: Rep. Banks, Jim [R-IN-3] reported raising $2.7 million (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-118hr233.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/118/hr>

Record fed-us-cong118-hr233 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong118 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong118