Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Lawless Cities Accountability Act of 2025”.
Lawless Cities Accountability Act of 2025
A BILL
To provide that Federal funds may not be made available to lawless jurisdictions, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 No Federal funds for lawless jurisdictions
In general— No Federal funds may be made available to a jurisdiction that the Attorney General determines is a lawless jurisdiction.
Attorney general determinations— Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and not less than quarterly thereafter, the Attorney General shall make determinations on which jurisdictions are lawless jurisdictions, and shall make such determinations, and an explanation of each determination, publicly available.
Reinstatement of Federal funds— A jurisdiction that the Attorney General determines is a lawless jurisdiction may begin receiving Federal funds on the later of—
180 days after the date on which the Attorney General first determines that the jurisdiction is lawless; or
the date on which the Attorney General determines that the jurisdiction is no longer a lawless jurisdiction.
Sec. 3 Definition
In this Act, the term lawless jurisdiction means a State or political subdivision of a State that—
forbids a law enforcement agency from intervening to restore order amid widespread or sustained violence or destruction;
has withdrawn law enforcement protection from a geographical area or structure that law enforcement officers are lawfully entitled to access, but have been officially prevented from accessing or permitted to access only in exceptional circumstances, except when law enforcement officers are briefly withheld as a tactical decision intended to resolve safely and expeditiously a specific and ongoing unlawful incident posing an imminent threat to the safety of individuals or law enforcement officers;
disempowers or defunds law enforcement agencies; or
refuses to accept an offer of law enforcement assistance from the Federal Government amid widespread or sustained violence or destruction in the jurisdiction, during which the jurisdiction has been unable to restore order.