Dubuque City Councilwoman Karla Braig was curious. Why is there a prohibition against excessive force by law enforcement during nonviolent civil rights demonstrations attached to $440,000 in federal funding to the Dubuque Housing Department?
Acting Police Chief Terry Tobin didn't venture a guess. Housing Department Manager David Harris shrugged. It has been a provision to receive Housing and Urban Development funds for many years, he said. Councilman Dirk Voetberg speculated it must have originated during the late 1960s or early 1970s when civil rights and anti-war demonstrations raged. Voetberg had the right idea, he was just a couple of decades early.
The provision is known as the "Armstrong Amendment" and it was introduced by Sen. William Armstrong, R-Colo., in September 1989. According to congressional records, the amendment stems from an investigation into the Los Angeles Police Department's use of excessive force against pro-life demonstrators outside of an abortion clinic. Officers reportedly used their clubs to separate pro-life and pro-choice factions.
| Advertisement |
|---|
|
|
Armstrong served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1972 to 1978 and in the United States Senate from 1978 to 1990, where he was a member of the Senate Finance, Banking and Budget committees. He is now president of Colorado Christian University in Lakewood.
Armstrong's memory of the amendment is now sketchy.
"Why it was originally attached to the HUD bill, I do not remember," Armstrong said. "But bear in mind that putting substantive legislative provisions in unrelated bills is a very common practice in the Senate. It may be nothing more complex than simply that a HUD bill came up at the same time as the problem and, therefore, it was a convenient vehicle for the amendment."
The legislative history of the amendment would seem to confirm Armstrong's explanation. It was adopted in committee by voice vote late in the budget process. It became law on Nov. 28, 1990, as part of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act.
In essence, any municipality that does not have a prohibition against law enforcement's use of excessive force against nonviolent demonstrators is not eligible for certain HUD funds.
Armstrong isn't surprised the provision remains on the books 20 years later.
"It seems a reasonable idea to me now, as it did then," he said.
