NAPO Washington Reports

NAPO Meetings of Capitol Hill - Public Safety Employer - Employee Cooperation Act

October 4, 2013

This week, NAPO continued efforts to reintroduce the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act by meeting with staffers who work for the following members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce & the Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions Committee:  Congressman Phil Roe (R-TN), Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC), and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).  Representatives from the International Brotherhood of Police Organizations and the National Troopers Coalition accompanied NAPO to the briefings.

During each of the meetings, NAPO stressed that passing legislation to extend collective bargaining rights to public safety officers is one of our top legislative priorities.  Staffers for Senators Hagan and Warren were very receptive to reintroducing the bill during this Congress. 

NAPO is tentatively scheduled to brief staffers for the following members of Congress next week:  Senator Al Franken (D-MN), Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), and Congressman Lou Barletta (R-PA). Many of NAPO’s scheduled meetings on this issue have been postponed due to the government shutdown.  NAPO looks forward to continuing to engage House and Senate staffers on this issue once they return from furlough. 

NAPO has actively fought for the enactment of legislation to extend collective bargaining rights to public safety officers, and continues to make it a top legislative priority.  Federal law has extended collective bargaining rights to a number of different sectors, but not to public safety officers.  Law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day to preserve the security and peace that our nation enjoys.  However, these same officers are denied the basic American right to collective bargaining for wages, hours, and working conditions.  NAPO will continue to work with fellow stakeholders to engage members of Congress to urge that this legislation be reintroduced during the 113th Congress.  We will continue to provide regular updates to our members on this issue.

If you have any questions about this legislation, please contact Melissa Nee at:  mnee@napo.org.