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Washington Watch: Legislative Update
For the Week of 8 March 2010
I. Legislative News and Activity
II. This Week in Congress
III. Update on FOP Top Legislative Priorities
IV. Update on LEOSA
V. FOP NEWS: FOP Calls on Subcommittee to Support Collective Bargaining Bill
VI. FOP NEWS : Police, firefighter unions see chance to expand collective bargaining rights
VII. FOP NEWS : NEW TOP PRIORITY: Federal LEO Retirement Bill
VIII. UPDATE: Day on the Hill RESCHEDULED
I. LEGISLATIVE NEWS AND ACTIVITY
National President Chuck Canterbury was in Washington, D.C. to testify before the House Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) in support of H.R. 413, the "Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act." (See Items V. and VI. for additional details). He was accompanied at the hearing by Executive Director Jim Pasco and Senior Legislative Liaison Tim Richardson.
Executive Director Pasco attended a fundraiser honoring Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Executive Director Pasco had a discussion with Bruce Cohen, Majority Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, regarding S. 1132, the "Law Enforcement Officers" Safety Act Improvements Act," and S. 1789, the "Fair Sentencing Act."
Executive Director Pasco met with representatives of the media who are working on a story on the history of gun control in the United States.
Senior Legislative Liaison Richardson spoke with and met with many of the staffers at the House HELP Subcommittee regarding H.R. 413 and National President Canterbury's appearance at the hearing on Wednesday. (See Items V. and VI. for additional details).
Legislative Liaison Jon Gentile represented the FOP at a National Consultative meeting of U.S. labor organizations at the Department of Labor in the lead up to a meeting of G20 Labor Ministers. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis was in attendance.
Legislative Liaison Gentile represented the FOP at a monthly coalition meeting of law enforcement and criminal justice organizations.
Legislative Liaison Gentile attended a meeting along with other public safety stakeholder organizations with staff members in the office of Senator Leahy to discuss a bill making improvements to the Public Safety Officers' Benefits program.
II. THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS
Both the House and the Senate were in session this week.
Action in the House
The House considered, but did not pass, H. Con. Res. 248 on a 65-356 vote. This resolution would have directed the President to remove armed forces from Afghanistan.
The House considered and passed H. Res. 1032 by voice vote. The resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States should continue to assist the government of Mexico in fighting the drug cartels and curbing violence against Mexican and United States citizens, both in the United States and abroad.
Action in House Committees
The House Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) held a hearing on H.R. 413, the "Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act." As reported above, National President Canterbury testified in support of the bill.
Action in the Senate
The Senate considered and passed H.R. 4213, the "Tax Extenders Act of 2009," on a 62-36 vote. This legislation would extend several expired tax provisions and other programs, including unemployment insurance, flood insurance, and COBRA health care subsidies.
Action in Senate Committees
The Committee on the Judiciary considered and favorably reported, on a 19-0 vote, a substitute amendment to S. 1789, the "Fair Sentencing Act." The FOP recently received the language of the substitute amendment and is reviewing it. We opposed S. 1789 as introduced, but have not taken a position on the bill as amended by committee.
III. UPDATE ON FOP TOP LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
For the complete list of cosponsors for all of our top legislative priorities, or to find out if your Representative and Senators are cosponsors of specific bills, check out http://thomas.loc.gov .
A. Social Security Issues
(1) Support H.R. 235/S. 484, the "Social Security Fairness Act"
We currently have three hundred and seven (307) cosponsors on H.R. 235--more than a House majority! Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we are not including in our count former Representatives John M. McHugh (R-NY), Ellen O. Tauscher (D-CA), and Eric Massa (D-NY), all of whom who resigned, John P. Murtha (D-PA), who recently died, or Delegates Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam), Pedro R. Pierluisi (D-Puerto Rico) and Gregorio Sablan (D-MP), who have limited voting rights on the floor.
We currently have twenty-nine (29) cosponsors on S. 484. Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we are not including in our count Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), who died last year.
(2) Opposing any legislation that would require the participation of public employees in Social Security
The FOP will continue to lobby against this scheme and oppose any legislation which would mandate participation in Social Security.
B. Support H.R. 413/S. 1611, the "Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act"
The House Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on H.R. 413. As reported above, National President Canterbury testified in support of the bill.
We currently have one hundred and ninety-four (194) cosponsors on H.R. 413 and need only twenty-one (21) additional cosponsors to reach a House majority! Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we are not including in our count Representatives John M. McHugh (R-NY), who resigned his seat last year to take a position with the Administration, or John P. Murtha (D-PA), who recently died.
We currently have eleven (11) cosponsors on S. 1611. Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we are not including in our count Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), who died last year, or Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL), who resigned his seat last year.
C. Support H.R. 1972, the "Law Enforcement Officer’s Procedural Bill of Rights Act"
We currently have three (3) cosponsors on H.R. 1972.
The Senate companion bill has not yet been introduced.
D. Support H.R. 673, the “Law Enforcement Officers’ Equity Act"
We currently have twenty-two (22) cosponsors on H.R. 673. Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we are not including in our count Representative John M. McHugh (R-NY), who resigned his seat last year to take a position with the Administration.
IV. UPDATE ON LEGISLATION AMENDING LEOSA
Last week, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary considered and adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute to S. 1132, the "Law Enforcement Officers' Safety Act Improvements Act." The substitute amendment was offered by Chairman Leahy and Senators Jefferson B. Sessions (R-AL), the Ranking Member of the Committee, and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). The substitute amendment made a few "tweaks" to the existing bill, including a provision clarifying the status of the Federal Reserve Police.
The amendment was agreed to on a unanimous voice vote, which Chairman Leahy noting that no Member present voted "no" on the bill. No further amendments were offered.
We have three (3) cosponsors on S. 1132.
We currently have eight (8) cosponsors on H.R. 3752. Please note we are not including in our count Representative John P. Murtha, who died earlier this year. The bill is similar in most respects to the Senate companion bill, S. 1132. The House bill includes language that would also clarify the status of retired military personnel that served as law enforcement officers in their respective branch of service. We will continue to work with Rep. Forbes' office to get this bill moved through subcommittee.
V. FOP NEWS: FOP Calls on Subcommittee to Support Collective Bargaining Bill
Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, appeared this morning before the House Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to urge them to pass H.R. 413, the “Public Safety Employee-Employer Cooperation Act.”
“This is a very simple bill, crafted to accomplish a very simple objective–to give our nation’s public safety officers, who put themselves in harm’s way every single day, the opportunity to sit down and talk with their employers about workplace issues,” Canterbury said.
The legislation, introduced by Representatives Dale Kildee (D-MI) and John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN), would recognize the fundamental right of public safety employees to form and join unions and bargain collectively with their employers over wages, hours, and working conditions without undermining existing State collective bargaining laws. The legislation does not require binding arbitration, protects existing right-to-work laws, and specifically prohibits strikes and lockouts.
“Collective bargaining is a critical tool to resolve differences, not create them,” Canterbury said. “I would also remind those who would conjure up the boogeyman of collective bargaining having an adverse affect on public safety, that every single public safety officer in Pennsylvania, New York and Washington–police and fire–who responded to the terrorist attacks on September 11th was covered by a collective bargaining agreement. The two Pentagon police officers that prevented disaster by subduing the shooter at the Pentagon last week are members of the FOP labor union. None of those called to action in these most extreme of circumstances paused to contemplate whether any of their actions would impact current or future negotiations.”
In the previous Congress, legislation virtually identical to H.R. 413 passed the House of Representatives on a 314-97 vote. As of today, H.R. 413 has nearly two hundred cosponsors. The Senate companion bill is S. 1611.
VI. FOP NEWS: Police, firefighter unions see chance to expand collective bargaining rights
A recent article in the Washington, D.C. publication The Hill reagrding the FOP's efforts to enact H.R. 413:
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/86359-firefighter-and-police-lobbyists-view-this-congress-as-the-best-chance-in-years-to-expand-collective-bargaining-rights-for-public-safety-workers
VII. FOP NEWS: NEW TOP PRIORITY: Federal LEO Retirement Bill
At the Spring Board Meeting of the National Board of Trustees, the Board voted to make the enactment of H.R. 673, the “Law Enforcement Officers’ Equity Act” a top priority for the organization.
An estimated 30,000 Federal police officers are not eligible for law enforcement retirement, which is also known as 6(c) benefits, which allow the officer to retire after twenty (20) years of service at the age of fifty (50), or twenty-five (25) years of service at any age. Officers who work for many Federal agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Federal Protective Service and Amtrak Police Department, are not eligible for 6(c) benefits. Recent events, such as the terrorist attack at Fort Hood and the shooting at the Pentagon, have demonstrated the critical role these brave men and women play in homeland security and the public safety of this nation.
Sergeant Kimberly Munley, the DoD civilian police officer who is widely considered the “Hero of Fort Hood,” was able to stop the shooter who slaughtered dozens of people and wounded many more despite her own injuries. On 4 March 2010, Pentagon Police Officers Marvin Carraway, Jeffrey Amos, and Colin Richards stopped a shooter from killing civilians near the Pentagon Metro station in Arlington, Virginia. Officers Carraway and Amos were wounded in the line of duty.
The “Law Enforcement Officers’ Equity Act,” was introduced by Representative Bob Filner (D-CA) in the beginning of the 111th Congress and currently has twenty three (23) cosponsors. The legislation would change the definition of a “Federal law enforcement officer” to ensure that all Federal law enforcement officers receive 6(c) benefits.
Passage of H.R. 673 is now a top priority.
VIII. UPDATE: Day on the Hill RESCHEDULED!!!
At the Spring Board Meeting of the National Board of Trustees, the Board voted to reschedule our annual Day on the Hill event to 12-13 May 2010.
At 4pm on Wednesday, 12 May, the National Legislative Office and the National Legislative Committee will host a short briefing, which will last approximately one hour. Additional details will be forthcoming in coming weeks.
The following Thursday will be devoted to your meetings with Members from your home States and districts. These appointments should be made in advance!!! Event participants should make every effort to have their Representative or Senator attend the meeting along with the appropriate staff person.
Obviously, we recognize that the abbreviated nature of the Day on the Hill may mean you have to be more selective with whom you choose to visit. Make these decisions wisely based on the availability of the Member, your relationship with that Member, and the Members committee assignments and/or position on our top priorities (if known).
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