SANDRA BLAND ACT - The first sweeping police changes proposed in Texas, following a black woman's 2015 death in a rural jail after a confrontational traffic stop, would revamp racial profiling laws and officer training. But the "Sandra Bland Act" filed Thursday faces a difficult road in the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature. House Bill 702 calls for raising the burden of proof needed to stop and search vehicles, more than doubling the amount of police de-escalation training and requiring police to capture more data. Bland was pulled over by a white state trooper for not signaling a lane change. Dashcam video recorded her combative traffic stop that quickly escalated and included the trooper threatening Bland with a stun gun. Bland was later found dead in her jail cell.
