House Passes Legislation Supporting Federal Law Enforcement, POTUS to Sign
The House of Representatives passed two bills that address ambiguities in federal criminal law and mental health and benefits support for federal law enforcement on October 27, 2021. The Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Law Enforcement Officer and Federal Employee Protection Act and the Confidentiality Opportunities for Peer Support (COPS) Counseling Act will go to President Biden for his signature.
The Law Enforcement and Federal Employee Protection Act is name in honor of two Homeland Security Investigation special agents targeted by the Los Zetas drug cartel in 2011. Cartel members were convicted of the attempted murder but a 2020 District of Columbia Circuit Court vacated the convictions finding the statutes outlawing the murder and attempting murder did not apply outside the U.S. This resulted in a circuit split on the issue.
The legislation covers several statutes relating to the assault, intimidation, kidnapping, or murder, of federal employees and clarifies the statutes can extend to federal employees serving abroad.
“This legislation ensures no family, and no officer will question the U.S. government’s ability to achieve justice on their behalf,” stated Larry Cosme, National President of Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA).
The COPS Counseling Act ensures confidentiality for federal law enforcement seeking peer support mental health counseling and supports the adoption of similar programming by law enforcement across the country. The legislation also requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) provide best practices and training program resources on law enforcement mental health publicly.
“Law enforcement officers at times would rather speak with a peer support member before talking with a professional mental health provider as they feel the peer better understands what they are trying to navigate. By providing them with this protection of confidentiality they are now more than ever going to take advantage of peer support,” shared Shelley Jones, Executive Director of Survivors of Blue Suicide Foundation (SBS), with FEDagent, “This in turn, will help with agent's mental wellness and hopefully assist in preventing suicides. My hope is that the legislatures in every state will enact similar legislation to give these added protections to all peer support members.”
“Providing robust mental health support to our law enforcement reduces the stigma of seeking help and leads to better policing, and I’ll continue working across the aisle to support our officers in Nevada and across the country,” stated Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), a co-sponsor of the Senate bill.
The Protecting America’s First Responders Act, a Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) benefits reform also received the House’s approval. The bill addresses an issue with PSOB benefits indexing in which award amount are determined based on the date of determination rather than the date of death or injury. According to lawmakers, this penalizes award recipients for delays in benefits processing. Additionally, the bill extends PSOB benefits to public safety officers not currented covered, including officers who act outside of their jurisdiction in an emergency situation, trainee officers, and fire-police who handle traffic and crime scene management. Finally, the bill addresses a loophole in which children born after the date of death or disability are ineligible for education benefits.
After the bill passed the Senate, an amendment was included to extend the Safeguarding America’s First Responders Act in the law. When an officer or agent contracts COVID-19, the language creates an automatic presumption that the officer was exposed on the job for purposes of workers compensation rather than burdening the officer with proving the exact manner of exposure. Since the House passed the Protecting America’s First Responders Act with this amendment, but the Senate did not, the bill now returns to the Senate for a vote.
“Collectively, these measures would ensure that anyone who harms a federal employee on foreign soil will be held accountable,” continued FLEOA President Cosme, “[I]mprove the delivery of death and disability benefits for fallen officers and ensure the confidentiality of federal law enforcement peer support communications.”
The bill now returns to the Senate for a final vote.