1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Qualified Immunity Act of 2023 . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Qualified immunity is intended for all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law and is meant to give government officials breathing room to make reasonable mistakes of fact and law. (2) The Supreme Court has observed that qualified immunity balances two important interests, the need to hold law enforcement officers accountable when they exercise power irresponsibly and the need to shield officers from harassment, distraction, and liability when they perform their duties reasonably. 3. Codification of qualified immunity (a) In general Section 1979 of the Revised Statutes ( 42 U.S.C. 1983 ) is amended— (1) by inserting (a) In general— before Every person ; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection: (b) Applicability to law enforcement officers (1) A law enforcement officer subject to an action under this section in their individual capacity shall not be found liable if such law enforcement officer establishes that— (A) the right, privilege, or immunity secured by the Constitution or Federal law was not clearly established at the time of their deprivation by the law enforcement officer, or that at this time, the state of the law was not sufficiently clear that every reasonable law enforcement officer would have understood that the conduct alleged constituted a violation of the Constitution or Federal law