Congress lets DC police chase suspects in cars again.
H.R. 5143 — District of Columbia Policing Protection Act · Filed by Clay Higgins (R-LA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 4, 2025 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
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What it does
This bill changes a DC law from 2022 that stopped police from chasing cars. Now DC police can chase suspects in most cases. An officer or supervisor can stop a chase if it is too risky for nearby people. They can also stop it if the chase will not work or another method is better. The bill tells the Attorney General to study PursuitAlert technology. This technology warns the public when a chase is happening. The Attorney General must report back to Congress in three years.
Who it affects
DC police officers can now chase fleeing suspects in cars. People in DC may see more high-speed chases on streets. Companies that make PursuitAlert technology may be affected.
One thing to notice
Congress overrode a rule that DC made for itself in 2022. The bill only applies to DC police, not federal police in DC.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Sep 4, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 4, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform”
- Sep 10, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Sep 10, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 25 - 20”
- Sep 17, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 245 - 182 (Roll no. 275).”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 2 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $80,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 70 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 0% of bills with any report.
Clay Higgins, who sponsored the bill, received $133,570 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence — $80,000 in 2 reports
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- Attorney General — The top law officer for the United States government.
- PursuitAlert — Technology that warns the public a police chase is happening.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,214 characters) on Jul 9, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-21.
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