Monitor Accountability Act
Floor Speech
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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, I do rise today in opposition to H.R. 8365, the Monitor Accountability Act.
This bill addresses the work of Federal monitors who are appointed by a court to oversee the progress a State or a unit of local government is making after violating Federal law.
Often monitors are put in place after there is a finding of serious misconduct, including violations of constitutional rights or actions that jeopardize people's public health, safety, and well-being.
For example, last January, the Department of Justice and Fulton County, Georgia, which I represent, they entered into an agreement that included the appointment of a monitor to oversee changes to address what we have found to be very dangerous, unhealthy, and unconstitutional conditions at our Fulton County jail.
So this bill proposes restrictions on monitors which ultimately could result in consequences that really actually don't serve the public interest. By requiring unnecessary turnover of both the Federal monitors and the judges overseeing these cases, this bill would waste our time and hard-earned taxpayer dollars instead of actually focusing monitors and the local officials to actually kind of come together and truly work to solve the problem and find some solutions.
The stakes are incredibly high in these kinds of cases. A delay could leave more people incarcerated in unconstitutionally dangerous conditions. A delay could also force employees like the prison guards to continue to work in very, very dangerous conditions that make it impossible for them to actually do their jobs effectively and safely.
I have had the chance to work with the newly appointed director of the Board of Prisons hearing about what is happening all over the Nation, and so I, too, am very concerned about making sure that our employees are working in safer environments within these institutions.
Ultimately, this legislation could result in more waste and more time and more delays while worsening the public services that are meant to be improved under the watchful eye of our Federal monitors.
I stand to say that as the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, I oppose H.R. 8365, and I will be urging all my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee to do the same.
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