House Republican Leader Todd Gilbert issued the following statement:

“Today’s session was disappointing, but not for the reasons many may think. Much of the legislation rammed through today by Democrats had the potential to be thoughtful reforms of how police do businesses. Sadly, the majority was so bent on punishing law enforcement that they refused to listen to reason.

“Republicans stood ready to support some of this legislation, had the majority only been willing to make some common sense changes. Police shouldn’t be banned from the profession for having the wrong haircut. Officers should be able to use neck restraint if they’re in a fight for their lives. Banning every use of a no-knock warrant will end in more dead police and more dead suspects.

“Unfortunately Democrats chose to listen to the parts of their base that spend their evenings clashing with police, rather than to police officers and sheriff’s deputies. If these laws take effect, our Commonwealth will be less safe, and more police officers will lose their lives. And it was entirely avoidable.”