Washington, DC - Washington, DC – Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, announced that several bills endorsed by the organization advanced in the House and Senate, including a top priority and one bill sent to the President to be signed into law.
“The FOP has been working with our friends and allies for some time now to lay the groundwork to advance bipartisan legislation that benefits police officers, their families, and the communities they protect,” Yoes said. “During National Police Week, these efforts were rewarded.”
The House passed S.546, the “Recruit and Retain Act,” on a 370-18 vote. The bill, which the FOP helped develop with Senators Debra L. Fischer (R-NE), Christopher A. Coons (D-DE), John Cornyn III (R-TX), and Amy J. Klobuchar (D-MN), will expand the scope of the hiring program administered by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to allow funds to be used to reduce application fees and other similar costs for job applicants. The President is expected to sign it into law. “The House also considered and passed an FOP priority that that we have been working on for years, the LEOSA Reform Act, which closes confusing loopholes in the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act and protects qualified active and retired from inadvertently putting themselves in legal jeopardy,” Yoes said.
The bill, H.R. 354, passed on a 221-185 vote, mostly along party lines.
The House also considered and passed H.R. 7581, the “Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act,” on a 365-55 vote. The bill, which the FOP supports, would require the Attorney General to develop reports relating to violent attacks against law enforcement officers.
“The FOP has been working diligently to get Congress to act on the ‘Protect and Serve Act,’ which would impose, in limited circumstances, Federal penalties on individuals who deliberately target local, State or Federal law enforcement officers with violence, but Congress has, to date, refused,” Yoes said. “The ‘Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act,’ is a small step forward as it directs the U.S. Department of Justice to study ambushes against police and other violence directed at law enforcement. Perhaps it will spur further action on ‘Protect and Serve.’”
The FOP also worked with former law enforcement officer, current FOP member, and Representative Peter A. Stauber (R-MN) on H. Res. 1213, which condemns violence targeting law enforcement officers and calls on Congress and others to support police with the resources they need to fulfill their public safety mission. The resolution was adopted on a 337-61 vote and will go to the Senate for further action.
“In addition to these victories on the House floor, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary took up three other bills that the FOP helped develop. Among them is S. 930, the “Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act,” which would establish that certain exposure-related cancers resulting in the death of a public safety officers would be presumed to be a line of duty death under Public Safety Officers’ Benefits program,” Yoes explained. “We’re very grateful to Senators Klobuchar and Cramer for leading the charge on this important bill.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed S. 930 on a 21-0 vote and then considered two additional bills that the FOP supported, S. 3335, the “Retired Federal Law Enforcement Officers Continuing Service Act,” and S. 4235 the “Reauthorizing Support and Treatment for Officers in Crisis (STOIC) Act,” on two unanimous voice votes. The bill S. 3335 would establish a grant program to allow for the hiring of retired law enforcement officers to train and perform civilian law enforcement duties, and S. 4235 would reauthorize the STOIC Act. All three bills will now go to the Senate floor for further consideration.
“I am proud of the success the FOP has had this week,” Yoes said. “We still have a lot of work to do to get these bills, but this was a very successful week for the FOP’s agenda.”