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An unlikely alliance in the House of Representatives is seeking to reform the U.S. criminal justice system.
The House unanimously passed a bill this week that would force the federal government to create a vast database of existing federal criminal laws and regulations, which its supporters hope will be a stepping stone to cutting down what they see as an exceedingly cumbersome bureaucratic web.
The bill is being led by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, with support from Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Lucy McBath, D-Ga., and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn.
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It’s not often that progressives can be seen teaming up with members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, but concerns like government overreach have been known to bring together unusual coalitions within Congress.
“This, for me, was driven by the fact that I think we have far too many federal crimes and that the American people often don’t know what they are,” Roy told Fox News Digital. “There’s lots of different ways in which you can be criminally liable for something you don’t even know about, and that’s insane.”
The Texas Republican said crimes like assaults, stabbings and thefts were “basic, Ten Commandments–like laws” that necessarily carried penalties — but he argued there were thousands more rules, including dictating regulatory violations, that posed issues for everyday Americans.
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“There are all sorts of regulatory things under the [Environmental Protection Agency] that frankly make criminals out of Americans by virtue of just how they engage. It might be a farmer just using their land or range or whatever. And suddenly they are a criminal,” he said.
“I mean, there’s been people who have gone to jail for violations of, essentially, what was regulations — maybe those are all extensions off of some statute way back when, but when you have a generic statute on environmental protection that then turns into a thousand different codes that if you break, you’re somehow violating law, that’s a big problem.”
Biggs complained of the lack of accounting for regulatory offenses Americans are accused of in a statement earlier this year.
“We have a duty to protect Americans’ right to liberty, and this begins with scaling down the massive overreach in federal criminal offenses,” Biggs said.
McBath said the bill means, “Americans will no longer have to fear being excessively punished, and criminal justice professionals can better protect the public.”
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In addition to creating the new database, the bill would also direct the Department of Justice (DOJ) to report how many cases have been prosecuted under each offense over the last 15 years.
The legislation passed the House unanimously by voice vote on Monday afternoon, meaning there was no opportunity for lawmakers to vote “yea” or “nay” on the bill.
It now heads to the Senate, where its future is uncertain.
While bipartisan cooperation is rare in the current Congress, Roy has been known to reach across the aisle on key issues before. He and several other Republicans are working with Democrats on legislation to ban stock trading for Capitol Hill lawmakers.
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