Bill would require officers to obtain liability insurance

AUSTIN — A bill filed in the Texas House would require peace officers to have personal liability insurance as a condition of their employment.

House Bill 1808 was authored by State Rep. Jolanda Jones, D-Houston. It was filed just weeks after Tyre Nichols, a Black man, was brutally and fatally beaten by Memphis police officers.

At least five Memphis officers have been charged with second-degree murder in Nichols' death.

Jones said that will become an expense on taxpayers who ultimately cover legal fees encountered by the city or county.

Jones said that although she had planned to file the bill for months, she believes recent events, such as Nichols' death, have highlighted the need for "real solutions" that create police accountability and "end unjust violence being taken against the Black community and others for far too long."

"It is time we have meaningful police reform while providing relief for taxpayers for police misconduct," Jones said. "Texas can create a system of police accountability and ensure that only qualified officers remain employed."

Jones said she believes her bill is pro-law enforcement.

"This bill is not anti-police, it's pro-community policing, it's pro-accountability, it's fiscally conservative, and it's just the right thing to do," Jones said.

But Clint McNear, with the Texas Municipal Police Association, said he thinks the bill would dissuade potential law enforcement officers from joining the force at a time when the field is struggling to hire and retain officers.

"We're not going to support any mandated financial burden on our profession," McNear said. "There's currently a recruiting crisis. There's a retention crisis … There's going to come a point where there won't be any police officers, (and) we won't have to worry about an insurance policy."

Jennifer Szimanski, director of public affairs for the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, said she agreed with that view of the bill.

"This bill would drive officers out of an already underpaid profession," she said. "Any expense or liability should fall on the political subdivision that recruits, hires and trains law enforcement officers."