Legislation Supported by the FOP in the 117th Congress

U.S. House of Representatives

H.R. 72 (Buchanan, R-FL), the “Thin Blue Line Act,” which would expand the list of statutory aggravating factors in death penalty determinations to also include killing or targeting a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or other first responder;

TOP PRIORITY – H.R. 82 (Davis, R-IL), the “Social Security Fairness Act,” which would repeal both the “Windfall Elimination Provision” and the “Government Pension Offset” in current Social Security law;

H.R. 263 (Quigley, D-IL), the “Big Cats Public Safety Act,” which would strengthen existing restrictions on the possession and exhibition of big cats, including restricting direct contact between the public and these animals;

H.R. 288 (Banks, R-IN), which would codify the existing qualified immunity doctrine as established and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court;

PASSED – H.R. 305 (Crist, D-FL), which would award a Congressional Gold Medal to U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman for his selfless acts of bravery in protecting Members of Congress on 6 January 2021;

H.R. 483 (Ruiz, D-CA), the “Heroes Lesley Zerebney and Gilbert Vega First Responders Survivors Support Act,” which would increase the amount of the death benefit provided by the Public Safety Officers’ benefits (PSOB) program as well as other benefits administered by the PSOB;

H.R. 521 (Connolly, D-VA), the “Fair Return for Employees on Their Initial Retirement Earned (RETIRE) Act,” which would allow Federal law enforcement officers, who were severely injured in the line of duty, to maintain their 6(c) early retirement if they take a civil service position after their injury;

H.R. 649 (Emmer, R-MN), the “Abby Honold Act,” which would promote the use of trauma-informed techniques by law enforcement when responding to sexual assault crimes;

H.R. 929 (Deutch, D-FL), which would provide a technical fix to the Elderly Home Detention Pilot program established by the First Step Act;

TOP PRIORITY – H.R. 962 (Pascrell, D-NJ), the “Law Enforcement Officers’ Equity Act,” which would expand the definition of “law enforcement officer” for salary and retirement benefits to include all Federal law enforcement officers;

H.R. 1198 (Gonzalez, R-OH), the “Eliminate Network Distribution of (END) Child Exploitation Act,” which would improve the effectiveness of the CyberTipline, which is administered by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children;

H.R. 1210 (Bacon, R-NE), the “LEOSA Reform Act,” which would amend the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA), which exempts qualified active and retired law enforcement officers from local and State prohibitions on the carriage of concealed firearms, to ensure that these officers are able to carry in the same venues as civilian concealed carry permit holders in areas like schools and national parks, as well as use public transportation and extends the exemption to magazine capacity and would allow active and retired law enforcement officers to access services at U.S. post offices, Social Security Administration offices or Veterans Affairs facilities;

H.R. 1229 (Deutch, D-FL), the “EAGLES Act,” which would reauthorize the National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and expand the program by including a new school safety initiative;

H.R. 1260 (Ruppersberger, D-MD), the “Bipartisan Solution to Cyclical Violence Act,” which would allow HHS to select existing violence prevention or intervention programs administered by State and local trauma centers to receive Federal grants to expand existing programs, study the effectiveness of those programs, and examine their impacts on reincarceration and re-admittance rates;

H.R. 1769 (Quigley, D-IL), the “NICS Denial Notification Act,” which would require the U.S. Department of Justice to notify State and local law enforcement agencies if a prohibited person attempts to purchase a firearm in their jurisdiction;

H.R. 2337 (Neal, D-MA), the “Public Servants Protection and Fairness Act,” which would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and replace it with a more equitable and individualized calculation of Social Security benefits while ensuring that no workers will be negatively impacted by the new formula;

PASSED – H.R. 2630/PL 117-12 (Pappas, D-NH), which would extend the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) temporary class-wide scheduling order for fentanyl-related substances;

H.R. 2717 (Williams, R-TX), the “Safer Schools Act,” which would establish two pilot grant programs dealing with the safety of public schools. One would fully fund risk assessments for public schools concerning their physical safety measures, while the other would partially fund the cost of fixing any physical vulnerabilities that were identified in the risk assessment;

PASSED – H.R. 2936 (Pascrell, D-NJ), the “Protecting America’s First Responders Act,” which would update the PSOB disability determinations and the definitions making it more consistent with existing Federal law and greatly improve the ability of our injured and disabled officers to have their claims processed more fairly and more quickly;

H.R. 3060 (Norman, R-SC), the “Putting Our First Responders First Act,” which would codify the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Ruling 85-105, which makes service-connected disability compensation tax-exempt;

PASSED– H.R. 3070 (Trone, D-MD), the “Confidentiality Opportunities for Peer Support (COPS) Act,” which would reduce the barriers for law enforcement officers when trying to access mental health resources;

H.R. 3079 (Rutherford, R-FL), the “Protect and Serve Act,” which would make it a Federal crime to target a law enforcement officer with an assault that results in serious bodily harm or death;

H.R. 3080 (Bacon, R -NE), the “Back the Blue Act,” which would improve protections for law enforcement officers by increasing the penalties for those who kill or assault law enforcement officers, would impose time and other limits on Federal courts’ review of habeas corpus, would amend the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA), and provide new grants;

H.R. 3096 (Demings, D-FL), the “Federal Law Enforcement Officer Service Weapon Purchase Act,” which would allow Federal law enforcement officers to purchase retired service weapons;

H.R. 3127 (Wild, D-PA), the “Safe Interactions Act,” which would provide grants to nonprofit disability organizations that have partnered with a law enforcement agency to develop training programs to ensure safe interactions between law enforcement and people with disabilities;

H.R. 3151 (Keller, R-PA), “Eric’s Law,” which would amend current law to allow Federal prosecutors to impanel a second jury for the sentencing phase of capital cases;

H.R. 3172 (Rutherford, R-FL), the “Homes for Every Local Protector, Educator, and Responder (HELPER) Act,” which would create a new home loan assistance program for first responders, including law enforcement officers;

TOP PRIORITY – H.R. 3225 (Stauber, R-MN), the “Public Employer-Employee Cooperation Act,” which would provide collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed by States or their political subdivisions;

H.R. 3248 (Guest, R-MI), the “American Body-worn Camera Act,” which would establish a grant program that is dedicated solely to body-worn cameras and their associated costs;

H.R. 3595 (Kaptur, D-OH), the “Law Enforcement Training for Mental Health Crisis Response Act,” which would authorize a grant program so that law enforcement agencies can obtain training to better recognize and respond appropriately to behavioral health crises caused by mental illness and substance abuse;

H.R. 3924 (Hice, R-GA), the “U.S. Park Police Modernization Act,” which would update the pay structure and benefits of the U.S. Park Police to resemble other area law enforcement agencies;

H.R. 4136 (Golden, D-ME), the “Responsible Ownership of Firearms Act,” which would establish a Federal, competitive grant program for non-profit organizations which partner with a local, State, or tribal law enforcement agency to purchase and distribute firearm locking devices and develop educational materials on safe and responsible gun ownership;

H.R. 4148 (Malinowski, D-NJ), the “Expanding Health Care Options for Early Retirees Act,” which would allow first responders to buy into Medicare beginning at the age of 50;

H.R. 4565 (Joyce, R-OH), the “Protecting First Responders from Secondary Exposure Act of 2021,” which would allow State and local governments to purchase containment devices through the existing Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP). 

H.R. 4977 (Spanberger, D-VA), the “Better Cybercrime Metrics Act,” which would encourage local and Federal law enforcement agencies to report cybercrimes to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI);

H.R. 5528 (Mfume, D-MD), the “Witness Security and Protection Grant Program Act of 2021,” which would authorize the U.S. Attorney General to make competitive grants for State, local and tribal governments to establish or maintain programs that provide protection or assistance to witnesses in court proceedings involving homicides, serious violent felonies, serious drug offenses, gangs, or organized crime;

H.R. 5587 (Garbarino, R-NY), the “Postal Police Reform Act”, which would address the increase in violence against United States Postal Service (USPS) employees and letter carriers as well as mail theft;

H.R. 5615 (Demings, D-FL), the “Homeland Security Capabilities Preservation Act,” which would direct the Department of Homeland Security to submit a plan on how to make Federal assistance available to former Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) jurisdictions;

H.R. 5768 (Demings, D-FL), the “Victim Act,” which would establish a grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to help State, Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies improve their clearance rates for homicides and non-fatal shootings;

H.R. 5797 (Katko, R-NY), the “Stop Enabling Repeat Violence and Endangering (SERVE) Our Communities Act,” which would establish a $10 million annual grant program for States and localities for anti-recidivism programming;

H.R. 6375 (Rice, R-SC), the “COPS on the Beat Grant Program Reauthorization and Parity Act,” which reauthorizes the COPS on the Beat Program through 2031 and codifies the independent status of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) within the U.S. Department of Justice;

H. Res. 283 (Zeldin, R-NY), which would establish a “Bill of Rights” to support law enforcement;

United States Senate

PASSED – S. 35 (Van Hollen, D-MD), which would award a Congressional Gold Medal to U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman for his selfless acts of bravery in protecting Members of Congress on 6 January 2021;

S. 119 (Klobuchar, D-MN), the “Abby Honold Act,” which would promote the use of trauma-informed techniques by law enforcement when responding to sexual assault crimes;

S. 129 (Tester, D-MT), the “Fair Return for Employees on Their Initial Retirement Earned (RETIRE) Act,” which would allow Federal law enforcement officers, who were severely injured in the line of duty, to maintain their 6(c) early retirement if they take a civil service position after their injury;

S. 391 (Grassley, R-IA), the “EAGLES Act,” which would reauthorize the National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and expand the program by including a new school safety initiative;

S. 466 (Moran, R-KS), the “Kelsey Smith Act,” which would require telephone companies and wireless carriers to disclose cell-site location data without a warrant in certain exigent circumstances;

S. 662 (Fischer, R-NE ), the “Achieving Thorough Transparency and Accessibility for Information Navigation on (ATTAIN) Mental Health Act,” which would establish an online dashboard for Federal resources related to mental health programs;

S. 675 (Coons, D-DE), the “NICS Denial Notification Act,” which would require the U.S. Department of Justice to notify State and local law enforcement agencies if a prohibited person attempts to purchase a firearm in their jurisdiction;

S. 774 (Tillis, R-NC), the “Protect and Serve Act,” which would make it a Federal crime to target a law enforcement officer with an assault that results in serious bodily harm or death;

S. 878 (Leahy, D-VT), the “Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act,” which would criminalize the practice of “straw purchasers”—individuals who are not prohibited from buying firearms only to transfer those weapons to persons who are unable to lawfully obtain guns;

PASSED – S. 921 (Durbin, D-IL), the “Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Officers and Employees Protection Act,” which would clarify that Federal law clearly and unambiguously protects Federal law enforcement officers operating outside our borders;

S. 998 (Coons, D-DE), the “Driving for Opportunity Act,” which would create a grant program for States to reinstate drivers’ licenses that were suspended for unpaid fines and fees;

S. 1210 (Blumenthal, D-CT), the “Big Cats Public Safety Act,” which would strengthen existing restrictions on the possession and exhibition of big cats, including restricting direct contact between the public and these animals;

TOP PRIORITY – S. 1302 (Brown, D-OH), the “Social Security Fairness Act,” which would repeal both the “Windfall Elimination Provision” and the “Government Pension Offset” in current Social Security law;

PASSED – S. 1502 (Cortez Masto, D-NV), the “Confidentiality Opportunities for Peer Support (COPS) Act,” which would reduce the barriers for law enforcement officers when trying to access mental health resources;

PASSED – S. 1511 (Grassley, R-IA), the “Protecting America’s First Responders Act,” which would update the PSOB disability determinations and the definitions making it more consistent with existing Federal law and greatly improve the ability of our injured and disabled officers to have their claims processed more fairly and more quickly;

S. 1595 (Toomey, R-PA), the “Thin Blue Line Act,” which would expand the list of statutory aggravating factors in death penalty determinations to also include killing or targeting a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or other first responder;

S. 1599 (Cornyn, R-TX), the “Back the Blue Act,” which would improve protections for law enforcement officers by increasing the penalties for those who kill or assault law enforcement officers, would impose time and other limits on Federal courts’ review of habeas corpus, would amend the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA), and provide new grants;

S. 1610 (Kennedy, R-LA), the “LEOSA Reform Act,” which would amend the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA), which exempts qualified active and retired law enforcement officers from local and State prohibitions on the carriage of concealed firearms, to ensure that these officers are able to carry in the same venues as civilian;

S. 1837 (Brown, D-OH), the “Law Enforcement Training for Mental Health Crisis Response Act,” which would authorize a grant program so that law enforcement agencies can obtain training to better recognize and respond appropriately to behavioral health crises caused by mental illness and substance abuse;

TOP PRIORITY – S. 1888 (Booker, D-NJ), the “Law Enforcement Officers’ Equity Act,” which would expand the definition of “law enforcement officer” for salary and retirement benefits to include all Federal law enforcement officers;

S. 2151 (Peters, D-MI), the “Strong Communities Act,” which would help build on the community-policing model by establishing a grant program for local law enforcement agencies to assist in recruiting officers in their own community;

S. 2236 (Brown, D-OH), the “Expanding Health Care Options for Early Retirees Act,” which would allow first responders to buy into Medicare beginning at the age of 50;

S. 2351 (Grassley, R-IA), the “Stop the Importation and Manufacturing of Synthetic Analogues (SIMSA) Act,” which would allow the U.S. Attorney General to add a Schedule A to the existing five schedules of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA);

S. 2422 (Cardin, D-MD), the “Bipartisan Solution to Cyclical Violence Act,” which would allow the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to select existing violence prevention or intervention programs administered by State and local trauma centers to receive Federal grants to expand existing programs, study the effectiveness of those programs, and examine their impacts on reincarceration and re-admittance rates;

S. 2629 (Schatz, D-HI), the “Better Cybercrime Metrics Act,” which would encourage local and Federal law enforcement agencies to report cybercrimes to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI);

S. 2958 (Cardin, D-MD), the “Witness Security and Protection Grant Program Act,” which would authorize the U.S. Attorney General to make competitive grants for State, local and tribal governments to establish or maintain programs that provide protection or assistance to witnesses in court proceedings involving homicides, serious violent felonies, serious drug offenses, gangs, or organized crime;

S. 3079 (Blackburn, R-TN), the “Keeping Our COVID–19 Heroes Employed Act,” which would exempt essential workers from Federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates;

S. Res. 5 (McConnell, R-KY), a resolution honoring the memory of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick for his acts of heroism in defending the U.S. Capitol on 6 January 2021;

Legislation to provide Federal law enforcement officers with a rebuttable presumption that a causal connection exists between their occupation and heart, lung, and hypertension disorders; and

Legislation which would protect the personal information of law enforcement officers and their families from public access.