United States · Bill · S
S. 436 (99th)
A bill to amend section 1979 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1983), relating to civil actions for the deprivation of rights, to limit the applicability of that statute to laws relating to equal rights, and to provide a special defense to the liability of political subdivisions of States.
Introduced
7 February 1985
Last action
—
Status
Subcommittee on Constitution. Approved for full committee consideration without amendment favorably.
Sponsors
—
Subjects
Discovery layer
Source updated
10 August 2026
Summary
Amends current law creating a Federal cause of action for the violation of a person's civil rights under color of State law to limit such actions to those for deprivation of constitutional rights or of legal rights under laws providing for equal rights of citizens or all persons within U.S. jurisdiction. Prohibits the award of damages against any Federal, State, or local governmental entity in any action for the deprivation of rights where the court finds that the officials involved acted in good faith. Grants Federal jurisdiction in these cases only after all administrative and judicial remedies have been exhausted.
This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.
Timeline
No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.
Votes
No vote records are attached yet.
Versions
No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.
Documents
1 official file
Introduced in Senate
summary · EN · 7 February 1985
Sponsors
No sponsors or actors listed by the source.
Related records
No cross-record relationships stored yet.
Sources
PoliticalRepo is an index and interpretation layer, not the authoritative legal source.
- Official source: https://www.congress.gov/bill/99th-congress/senate-bill/436
- Open data entity: https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/99/s/436