In a significant victory for NAPO, the Fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) final text was released last night incorporating much of NAPO’s priority legislation: Honoring our Fallen Heroes Act; Improving Police CARE Act; PROTECT Our Children Reauthorization Act; Chief Herbert D. Proffitt Act; and comprehensive counter-UAS authorities for state and local law enforcement and corrections.

Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act recognizes exposure-related cancers as line of duty injuries which would be covered under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Program for death and disability benefits.

Improving Police Critical Aid for Responding to Emergencies (CARE) Act establishes baseline standards for trauma kits purchased with Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) funding. It also requires best practices be developed for training officers to use trauma kits, and for deployment and maintenance of the kits in vehicles and government facilities.

PROTECT Our Children Reauthorization Act combats child exploitation and abuse by reauthorizing and improving the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program.

The Chief Herbert D. Proffitt Act extends Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Program coverage to retired law enforcement officers who are killed or permanently and catastrophically disabled due to their prior line-of-duty work. State and local agencies would be given the authority to detect, track, identify, and mitigate drones that threaten public safety through comprehensive counter-UAS authority for law enforcement and corrections. 

NAPO sent a letter this morning to House and Senate leadership expressing support for the NDAA, which is expected to be taken up in the House this week and in the Senate the week of Dec. 15.

For more details, click here for the Dec. 8, 2025 Washington Report.