H.R. 10653: Police Training and Independent Review Act of 2026

This bill would create a new federal grant program for states that adopt two main policy changes for law enforcement:

• require annual training on fair and impartial policing for police academy recruits and all law enforcement officers in the state
• require an independent review process for cases involving a law enforcement officer’s use of deadly force

Training requirements for states

To qualify for the grants, a state would have to require all police academy students and all law enforcement officers to complete yearly training on fair and impartial policing. The training would need to cover:

• implicit and explicit bias based on race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability
• cultural diversity
• interactions with people who have mental illness or behavioral, mental, or physical disabilities
• crisis intervention
• de-escalation tactics
• scenario-based exercises
• tests showing officers can demonstrate proficiency in the topics covered

The bill would require at least 8 hours of this training initially, and at least 4 hours every year after that. States would have to certify to the Attorney General that officers and academy recruits completed the required training.

Grant eligibility and enforcement

The Attorney General could award grants to states for one fiscal year at a time. A state would generally need to be in compliance within 240 days after the law takes effect, though the Attorney General could extend that deadline by 120 days if the state is making a good-faith effort.

If a state is compliant at the end of one fiscal year but later falls out of compliance, it would lose eligibility for the next fiscal year. The bill also says the Department of Justice Inspector General would conduct audits of some grant recipients each year to check compliance.

Independent review of deadly force cases

To receive a grant, a state would also have to have an “independent prosecution of law enforcement” law in effect. In general, this means the state must have a process for independent investigation and prosecution when a law enforcement officer’s use of deadly force results in death or injury.

The bill says this independent review could be done in several ways, including:

• a civilian or agency review board that investigates use-of-force allegations
• the state attorney general handling the investigation and prosecution
• automatic referral to a special prosecutor overseen by the attorney general
• agreements with other law enforcement agencies to investigate the case and report findings to the attorney general
• using an independent prosecutor

The bill defines “deadly force” as force a reasonable person would consider likely to cause death or serious bodily harm.

Effect in practice

If enacted, the bill would not directly change federal criminal law nationwide, but it would use federal grants to encourage states to adopt and maintain these training and independent-review rules. States that do not adopt the required policies would not be eligible for the grants.

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