Fraternal Order of Police

Washington Watch: Legislative Update

For the Week of 29 September 2008

I. Legislative News and Activity
II. This Week in Congress
III. Update on FOP Top Legislative Priorities
IV. Update on LEOSA
V. FOP NEWS: National FOP President Frustrated with Sentence Delays

I. LEGISLATIVE NEWS AND ACTIVITY
Executive Director Jim Pasco joined National President Chuck Canterbury at the California State Lodge conference. The keynote speaker was U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao.

Executive Director Pasco held numerous discussions with officials in the McCain-Palin campaign to coordinate current and future efforts.

Legislative Liaison Jon Gentile represented the FOP at a meeting of the Federal Salary Council.

II. THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS

The Senate remained in session this week, and the House was also in session for several days.

The House has not yet made clear if they intend to remain in session, or return for a lame duck session following the elections. The Senate, on the other hand, announced that it would return for a lame duck session the week of 17 November, to consider an omnibus bill crafted from approximately 150 pieces of legislation that have been successfully blocked by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK).

Action in the House
The House is expected to vote on H.R. 1424, the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act," sometime on Friday.

The House considered and passed H.R. 4
120, the "Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act," under a suspension of the rules on 418-0 vote. The bill, which has been transmitted to the President for his signature, will remove the requirement that Federal officials must prove interstate transmission in child pornography cases.

The House considered and passed H.R. 5057, the "Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act," by voice vote. The bill reauthorizes several programs that provide funding and other assistance to State and local law enforcement agencies for the collection of DNA samples from all felons in their prisons for inclusion in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The bill will be transmitted to the President for his signature.

Last weekend, the House considered and passed H.R. 6045, the "Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act," under a suspension of the rules on a 404-2 vote. The bill, which was strongly supported by the FOP, reauthorizes the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant program through 2012.

The House also considered and passed H.R. 6098, the "Personnel Reimbursement for Intelligence Cooperation and Enhancement (PRICE) of Homeland Security Act," by voice vote (see below for a description of the bill). The legislation was sent to the President for his signature.

The House considered and passed by voice vote, S. 1738, the "Providing Resources, Officers, and Technology To Eradicate Cyber Threats (PROTECT) to Our Children Act." The bill has been sent to the President for=2
0his signature.

The House considered and passed S. 3296 by voice vote. The bill, which will extend the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court police to protect officers of the Supreme Court even if they leave the Court grounds, will now be transmitted to the President for his signature.

Action in the Senate
The Senate considered and passed by unanimous consent, S. 1738, the "Providing Resources, Officers, and Technology To Eradicate Cyber Threats (PROTECT) to Our Children Act." The bill was sent to the House, which passed the bill.

The Senate considered and passed S. 3296 by unanimous consent. The bill, which will extend the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court police to protect officers of the Supreme Court even if they leave the Court grounds, was transmitted to the House, which passed the bill.

The Senate spent much of the week debating H.R. 1424, the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act," and passed the bill on a 75-24 vote. The bill was sent to the House, which is scheduled to vote on Friday.

The Senate considered, amended, and passed H.R. 6049, the "Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act," on a 93-2 vote. The bill will be returned to the House for further action.

The Senate considered and passed H.R. 6098, the "Personnel Reimbursement for Intelligence Cooperation and Enhancement (PRICE) of Homeland Security Act," by unanimous consent. The legislation would permit the use of Federal funds in the Urban Area Security Initiative or the State Homeland Security Grant Prog
ram to sustain target capabilities related to preventing, preparing for, protecting against, and responding to acts of terrorism, consistent with a state homeland security plan and relevant local, tribal, and regional homeland security plans. In addition, these funds would also be made available to compensate intelligence analysts without regard to whether the analysts are current or new full-time employees and without limitations on the period of time that an analyst can serve under awarded grants.

III. UPDATE ON FOP 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 out http://thomas.loc.gov .

A. SOCIAL SECURITY ISSUES:

(1) Support H.R. 82/S. 206, the "Social Security Fairness Act"

We have three hundred and forty (340) cosponsors--more than seventy-five percent (75%) of the House--on H.R. 82. Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we are not including in our count Delegates Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam), Donna M. Christensen (D-VI), Luis Fortuno (R-PR), and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who have limited voting rights on the floor. We are also not including Representatives Julia Carson (D-IN), Paul Gillmor (R-OH), Tom Lantos (D-CA), Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA), Charlie Norwood (R-GA), or Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), all of whom have died this year. Similarly, former Representatives Bobby Jindal (R-LA) and Martin Meehan (
D-MA), who resigned their seats, are also not included in our count.

We added two cosponsors, Senators Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) and Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) to S. 206, bringing our current total to thirty-eight (38).

(2) Opposing any legislation that would require the participation of public employees in Social Security
This issue was discussed in both hearings mentioned above. While no legislation has been introduced with a provision that would mandate the inclusion in Social Security of public employees currently not in the system, the FOP included in its testimony to the Subcommittee our strong opposition to such a scheme.

B. Support H.R. 980/S. 2123, the "Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act"
The U.S. House of Representatives considered and passed H.R. 980 under a suspension of the rules on a 314-97 vote in July of last year. The result of that vote, Roll Call #633, can be viewed here: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll633.xml

The Senate companion bill, S. 2123, has thirty-six (36) cosponsors.

Both H.R. 980 and S. 2123 are pending in the Senate.

C. Support H.R. 688/S. 449, the "State and Local Law Enforcement Officers' Discipline, Accountability, and Due Process Act"

We currently have sixty (60) cosponsors on H.R. 688. Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we are not including Representative Jo Ann Davis (R-VA), who has died.

We currently have seven (7) cosponsors on S. 449.

III. UPDATE ON LEGI
SLATION AMENDING LEOSA

We currently have eighteen (18) cosponsors on H.R. 2726. The bill was the subject of a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security in early September. The testimony offered at that hearing by National Treasurer Tom Penoza can be found on the FOP website.

The Senate bill, S. 376, which was favorably reported by the Committee on the Judiciary in May, has nine (9) cosponsors.

The language in S. 376 and H.R. 2726 would improve certain provisions of the Law Enforcement Officers' Safety Act (LEOSA), especially with respect to retired law enforcement officers. The legislation would also make clear that law enforcement officers employed by the Amtrak Police Department and the executive branch of the Federal Government who are classified as a GS-0083 meet the definition of "qualified law enforcement officer" in the LEOSA. The Senate bill would also lower the aggregate years of service needed to meet the definition of "qualified retired law enforcement officer" from fifteen (15) to ten (10) and removes confusing language related to that same definition.

V. FOP NEWS: National FOP President Frustrated with Sentence Delays

Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, shared his frustration with fellow officers last week after news came that the United States Supreme Court had granted a stay of execution for Troy A. Davis, who murdered Savannah Police Officer Mark Allan MacPhail more than a decade ago.

"All
of us were frustrated with the Court's stay," Canterbury said. "Officer McPhail's family had traveled to the prison to see justice done, instead they were treated to a celebration by the killer's supporters. It's not right and it is a grave injustice to the memory of Officer McPhail and his loved ones."

On 19 August 1989, Mark MacPhail, a 27-year-old officer, former U.S. Army Ranger and father of two, responded to cries of help from a homeless man who was being pistol-whipped in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. He was off-duty and working as a security guard when he arrived to break up the fight. Before he could even draw his gun, Davis shot Officer MacPhail three times, killing him.

"This execution was already postponed once last summer," Canterbury said. "Then the killer claimed that another man did the shooting, so the courts delayed the sentence and thoroughly vetted the case. No compelling new evidence or information was found to place reasonable doubt on the jury's decision that Troy Davis shot and killed Mark in cold blood."

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court, which had denied his petition for appeal in June 2007, blocked the execution of Davis less than two hours before the sentence was to be carried out. The nine justices will begin reviewing his case this week and a decision as to whether or not they will hear the case could come as early as next week.

For more information on this case, visit http://www.markallenmacphail.com.

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