{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://richmond.house.gov/press-releases/rep-richmond-judiciary-committee-move-toward-criminal-justice-reform", "Rep. Richmond, Judiciary Committee Move Toward Criminal Justice Reform", "2015-11-19", "2015", "2015-11", "Democrat", "House", "LA", "Cedric Richmond", "R000588", "richmond.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, DC  Today, Congressman Cedric Richmond (LA-02) issued the following statement after the Judiciary Committee passed the Sentencing Reform Act of 2015:\nWe have a lot of work to do in order to achieve comprehensive criminal justice reform, said Rep. Richmond. I am proud that Republicans and Democrats could come together to reduce the prison population by tens of thousands, make our communities safer, and improve some key shortfalls in the system with regard to mental health. It is a step in the right direction.\nWe must continue this bipartisan momentum in order to accomplish our goal of truly reforming this broken system. That means addressing recidivism by investing in re-entry programs and focusing on data driven solutions to ensure we are making an impact. The progress we have made gives me confidence that we can accomplish that goal. This is an encouraging start, but we must continue to push for truly comprehensive reform.\nThe Sentencing Reform Act of 2015 would:\n \nOffer relief to over 50,000 individuals and their families over the next 10 years.\n\tReduce mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenders and applies those changes retroactively.\n\tIncrease judicial discretion by expanding the existing drug safety valve to offenders with prior misdemeanor convictions and creating a second safety valve that allows judges to sentence certain offenders below the 10-year mandatory minimum.\n\tApply the Fair Sentencing Acts reduction of the crack-to-powder cocaine disparity retroactively.\n \nClick here to view Congressman Richmonds full remarks.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://richmond.house.gov/press-releases/rep-richmond-judiciary-committee-move-toward-criminal-justice-reform"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8469461463391781, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}