Washington Watch: Legislative Update
For the Week of 3 June 2013
I. Legislative News and Activity
II. This Week in Congress
III. Update on Top Legislative Priorities
IV. FOP Makes Important Strides on DoD Arrest Issue: LEOSA Changes Remain Mired in Red Tape
V. Support the National FOP Foundation!
I. LEGISLATIVE NEWS AND ACTIVITY
Executive Director Jim Pasco met with with Bruce Cohen, chief counsel to Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, to discuss upcoming action on S. 394, the Metal Theft Prevention Act, and pending nominations.
Executive Director Pasco spoke with several officials within the Administration regarding pending nominations.
PAC Director/Legislative Liaison Grace Lynch met with majority staff on the House Committee on the Judiciary to discuss efforts to grant statutory arrest authority to civilian law enforcement officers employed by The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
PAC Director/Legislative Liaison Lynch met with staff in the office of Representative Peter T. King (R-NY) to discuss cooperative efforts on H.R. 1362, the Law Enforcement Officers' Equity Act.
PAC Director/Legislative Liaison Lynch met with staff in the office of Representative Michael G. Fitzpatrick (R-PA) to discuss H.R. 1969, the Children of Fallen Heroes Scholarship Act.
PAC Director/Legislative Liaison Lynch met with staff in the office of Representative Jason E. Chaffetz (R-UT) to discuss issues relevant to the FOP.
II. THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS
Both the House and the Senate were in session this week.
Action in the House
The House considered and passed H.R. 2216, the "Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014 ," on a 421-4 vote. The bill now goes to the Senate for further consideration.
The House considered and passed H.R. 2217, the "Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2014," on a 245-182 vote. The bill now goes to the Senate for further consideration.
Action in House Committees
The Committee on Armed Services considered, amended and favorably reported H.R. 1960, the "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014," on a 59-2 vote. The bill, which includes the FOP's language that would allow the Secretary of Defense to grant civilian law enforcement officers employed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) statutory arrest authority, can now be considered by the full House. (See
Item IV. for additional details.)
Action in the Senate
The Senate failed to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the consideration of S. 953, the "Student Loan Affordability Act," on a 51-46 vote. The bill was pulled from the floor.
The Senate invoked cloture on the motion to proceed to the consideration of S. 954, the "Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act," on a 75-22 vote. The Senate will continue debate on the measure next week.
The Senate began consideration of S. 744, the "Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act," on the Senate floor.
III. UPDATE ON 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 outhttp://thomas.loc.gov.
A. Support H.R. 1362, the "Law Enforcement Officers Equity Act"
We added 1 new cosponsor to H.R. 1362, bringing our current total to 14.
The Senate version of the bill has not yet been reintroduced.
B. Support H.R. 1795/S. 896, the "Security Fairness Act"
We added 15 cosponsors to H.R. 1795, bringing our current total to 61.
We added two cosponsors to S. 896, bringing our current total to 8.
C. Support Section 1031 of H.R. 1960, the " National Defense Authorization Act" to grant Statutory Arrest Authority to Civilian DoD Law Enforcement
The legislation, H.R. 1960, the "National Defense Authorization Act, 2014" contains language crafted in part by the FOP that would allow the U.S. Secretary of Defense to grant statutory arrest authority to its civilian law enforcement officers. This language can be found in Section 1031.
The bill has 1 cosponsor and was favorably reported by the Committee on Armed Services on a 59-2 vote. The bill will next be taken up by the House. (See
Item IV. for additional details.)
IV. FOP Makes Important Strides on DoD Arrest Issue: LEOSA Changes Remain Mired in Red Tape
Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, said that the organization cleared a major hurdle in its effort to amend Federal law and grant statutory arrest authority to civilian law enforcement officers employed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
The language that was crafted in part and approved by our Federal Officers Committee was included in H.R. 1960, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, Canterbury said. This is significant because weve passed this same language several times through the Senate, only to have the House strip it out. The language was included in the House bill at introduction and now has passed full committee. Were optimistic that we can keep it in the final bill.
The proposed language would grant the U.S. Secretary of Defense the same general powers and authorities that were provided to the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security in 2002. If adopted, the Secretary of Defense will be able to establish regulations that are enforceable by criminal penalties for property under the jurisdiction, custody, or control of the DoD. Because this has become such a genuine security and public safety issue, some DoD law enforcement agencies, like the Defense Intelligence Agency Police, sought deputization from the U.S. Marshals Service to empower them to exercise law enforcement powers.
The lack of this authority is keenly felt by civilian law enforcement officers employed by the DoD, Canterbury explained. It is negatively impacting officer morale and, more importantly, public safety. For instance, many of the civilian law enforcement officers have to deal with a growing population of non-DoD-affiliated civilians living in privatized housing on DoD installations. Without the statutory arrest authority or the ability to create regulations with criminal penalties, law enforcement officers responding to a call for service cannot make an arrest. They can call local law enforcement, which may or may not respond, because many DoD installations are located in remote areas. In such cases, their authority extends only to evicting the individual from the installationleaving the criminal act unaddressed and the public at continued risk.
The civilian law enforcement officers employed by the DoD are fully trained and sworn and they should have the authorities that go with that training and not be forced to call officers from another agency or shop around to non-DoD entities to secure the authority they need to make these installations safe for civilian and military populations, Canterbury said.
Canterbury also stated that FOP staff has been in regular communication with DoD officials as they work on new instructions and regulations to implement the changes to Federal law clarifying that civilian law enforcement officers employed by and retired from the DoD, as well as military personnel serving as law enforcement officers, unambiguously meet the definitions in the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA). President Obama signed these changes into law in January of this year.
We expected the process would be slow and had some hope that the new regulations would be issued by this summer, but that no longer seems to be the case, Canterbury said. The proposed regulations are currently under review by the Office of General Counsel within the Department and this review could take several months.
Following this process, the proposed changes will be published in the Federal Register and be open for public comment. The comments will be collected for review and some changes, based on the comments received, could be made. Once the comment and review period has concluded, the new regulations will be published in the Code of Federal Regulations and take effect.
Unfortunately, there is no way to hurry this process, Canterbury said. The proposed rule has to be posted for a certain length of time and the review process is also prescribed by Federal law and regulation.
Various branches of the Armed Forces have issued memoranda that the LEOSA exemption does not attach until such time as the Department and its components revise their existing instructions. The FOP does not agree with this interpretation and we understand that the Departments own legal review concluded that the law is the law and is self-executing.
With that said, there is a question as to whether the photographic identification carried by civilian law enforcement officers and military police personnel meet the requirements of the Federal statute, Canterbury said. No one wants to be a test case, so we are asking our Federal DoD members to be patient for just a little longer while the gears of government grind forward.
V. SUPPORT THE NATIONAL FOP FOUNDATION!
The FOP Foundation will host a raffle which begins during National Police Week (May 13-15) and ends at the 61st Biennial National Conference. This raffle will benefit the many programs the Foundation supports. Winners will be announced after the 61st Biennial National Conference, you do not need to be present to win!
Raffle prizes include:
- Beretta USA a Model 92FS pistol
- Blackhawk Medium A.L.E.R.T. Bag
- Blackhawk CQD Mark 1 Type E Knife
- Blackhawk Weapons Transport Case
- Colt LE6920 Rifle
- Columbia River Knife & Tool Company Eatn Tool
- Columbia River Knife & Tool Company Onion Redemption Fixed Blade
- Columbia River Knife & Tool Company M21 Carson: Special Forces
- JetBlue gift certificates
- Gift certificate for HAIX Black Eagle Tactical 20 Mid shoes
- AR-15 Bluegun
- Otis Rifle Cleaning Kit
- Otis Pistol Cleaning Kit
- Horace Small Jackets
- 5 Year B.A.S.S. membership & gear
- 1 year B.A.S.S. membership & gear
- Weaver Tactical Scope
- And much more!
Raffle tickets are $20 each or $80 for 5 tickets. You can purchase tickets online here (
http://www.fopconnect.com/fop-foundation-police-week-raffle/).
You do not need to be present to win.