FLEOA’s Legislative Priorities Coming in Hot After August Recess
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The prompt for this round of the FEDforum is ongoing operations. This week, hear from the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA).
As Congress returns from August recess, it only has a few short weeks to focus on legislation impacting federal law enforcement, retirement benefits, and the federal workforce generally. FLEOA is actively working on a variety of ongoing legislative priorities and hopes to see movement in both chambers of Congress before the end of the year.
The House of Representatives acted last week to pass H.R. 302, the Preventing a Patronage System Act. This This bill bars a president from unilaterally moving employees out of the competitive service, effectively stripping federal employees of their merit-system protections. FLEOA has actively supported this legislation to protect the rights of our members. It passed the full House of Representatives in a 225 to 204 vote on Thursday, September 15, 2022, and now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Senate Legislative Updates
H.R. 521, the First Responder Fair Return for Employees on Their Initial Retirement Earned Act (“Fair RETIRE Act”), is a bill that FLEOA helped develop and allows federal law enforcement officers and other first responders who are injured in the line of duty before their retirement age to still receive their full benefits.
The House of Representatives unanimously passed the bill in July and the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee unanimously passed the bill on August 3. The widespread bipartisan support for this bill underscores its commonsense importance. The federal retirement system should not penalize law enforcement for their on-the-job injuries, rather it should reward their sacrifice.
We expect this legislation to move forward in the full-Senate shortly.
H.R. 3096, the Federal Law Enforcement Officer Service Weapon Purchase Act, requires the General Services Administration to develop a program to allow federal law enforcement officers to purchase their retired handgun from the agency that issued the weapon.
This legislation has several critical benefits. First, it maximizes public safety. Federal LEOSA rights allow qualified law enforcement to concealed carry after retirement, allowing them to serve as a force multiplier in the field. By allowing them to buy back their service weapon after retirement, officers who choose to carry are equipped to protect the public with the firearm they feel most comfortable with and have trained on for years. Second, it reduces waste. Many agencies dispose of retired service weapons causing them to lie wastefully in landfills and potentially seep hazardous materials into the ground. Instead, this bill allows agencies to sell service weapons back to law enforcement, recouping taxpayer funds rather than wasting materials.
As a result of FLEOA’s tireless advocacy on this measure, the text of the Federal Law Enforcement Officer Service Weapon Purchase Act was adopted as an amendment to the House version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) the chamber approved in July. The Senate may advance its own version of NDAA this month, and FLEOA is busy working to ensure that our gun buyback language is incorporated into the final bill.
House Legislative Updates
H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, would repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) under current Social Security law. These provisions have the effect of reducing hard-earned retirement benefits for retirees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). In finally repealing these discriminatory provisions, CSRS retirees will receive the benefits they have earned through their career in federal service and will no longer be penalized based on the time they entered service.
FLEOA is proud to be a long-time supporter of this important legislation. H.R. 82 recently gained 298 bipartisan co-sponsors—more than 2/3s of the entire House—and we are working to ensure that it receives a vote in the House as soon as possible.
S. 4007, the Fighting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Act, is an important officer mental health and wellness bill that FLEOA advocated for during this year’s National Police Week. It would require the Attorney General to propose a program for making treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder available to public safety officers.
When law enforcement are mentally fit, they are more physically fit. However, the job of law enforcement is incredibly stressful and makes law enforcement prone to mental health disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder. FLEOA is committed to ensuring federal law enforcement have the resources to enhance their mental fitness and receive treatment when struggling with a stress disorder.
This bill passed the full Senate last month and FLEOA is also advocating for its consideration in the House this month.
S. 2152, the Strong Communities Act, would provide that COPS grant funds may be used for local law enforcement recruits to attend schools or academies if the recruits agree to serve in precincts of law enforcement agencies in their communities.
FLEOA strongly believes Congress must focus on law enforcement recruitment. Federal law enforcement has been increasingly called to support state and local law enforcement that lack the capacity to combat violent crime. This bill will assist state, local, and tribal law enforcement more effectively recruit additional personnel from local communities. FLEOA understands that law enforcement work best when working with communities they know, and we support efforts to enhance local recruitment.
This bill passed the full Senate last month and is now being considered in the House.
S. 3860, the Invest to Protect Act, would establish a grant program to provide assistance to local governments with fewer than 200 law enforcement officers.
Defunding the police has never been the answer. Finally, Congress is recognizing that funding is necessary to support the critical public safety mission of law enforcement. This bill would allow small law enforcement organizations to access additional funding to enhance their training and recruitment efforts.
This bill passed the full Senate last month and is now being considered in the House.
S. 4003, the Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act, provides additional training on alternatives to the use of force, de-escalation, and mental and behavioral health and suicidal crisis.
It is critical law enforcement are adequately trained on every tool necessary to respond to the dynamic and rapidly evolving situations they may encounter. This bipartisan bill would ensure all law enforcement have access to those trainings.
This bill passed the full Senate last month and is now being considered in the House.
Conclusion
On top of these critical legislative items, Congress is also working to avert a government shutdown. FLEOA supports Congress seeking every avenue to prevent a government shutdown, but we would most prefer Congress fully fund all federal law enforcement agencies with robust appropriations. While Congress negotiates the details of these bills, FLEOA supports a continuing resolution to prevent a lapse in funding.
This column from the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) is part of the FEDforum, an initiative to unite voices across the federal community. The FEDforum is a space for federal employee and law enforcement groups to share their organizations’ initiatives and activities with the FEDagent audience.
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