On May 25, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released the National Accreditation Standards, which will be used to determine if a law enforcement agency accreditation entity qualifies as an “authorized, independent credentialing body” pursuant to Section 19 of the President’s Executive Order on police and criminal justice reform. These are the standards independent credentialing bodies must consider when accrediting law enforcement agencies. A law enforcement agency accredited under different criteria will not be considered accredited by the DOJ; Join us for NAPO’s 45th Annual Convention in Los Angeles, California. Learn from presentations by prominent law enforcement figures about the latest developments in police policies and services and help determine NAPO’s path forward by participating in the election of NAPO’s Leadership; On May 25, the President vetoed the joint resolution (H.J.Res. 42) passed by Congress May 16 that would have overturned a District of Columbia (D.C.) police reform law, the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act (CPJRAA). In his veto message, President Biden stated that while he does not agree with every provision of the CPJRAA, he would “not support congressional Republicans’ efforts to overturn commonsense police reforms”; The House passed the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of (HALT) Fentanyl Act (H.R. 467) on May 25 by a bipartisan vote of 289-133. NAPO endorsed this important legislation as it would make permanent the current classwide scheduling of all fentanyl-related substances as Schedule 1 drugs under the Controlled Substances Act, giving law enforcement the tools and resources necessary to combat and deter fentanyl in our nation’s communities; As the House and Senate have alternatively been on recess and focused on suspending the federal debt ceiling, NAPO has been working to build up cosponsors for two of our priority bills: the Tax Fairness for Workers Act and the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act. The Tax Fairness for Workers Act would reinstate above-the-line deductions for out-of-pocket costs for workers relating to uniform purchases and maintenance as well as job-related training. It would also make union dues an above-the-line deduction. The Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act recognizes exposure-related cancers as line of duty injuries and would cover them under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Program for death and disability benefits; On June 1, Congress passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which suspended the federal debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025, and limited federal non-defense spending. The bill also rescinds $29 billion in COVID relief and IRS funding. With the rescissions as a back-fill, it is expected that overall non-defense spending will not face huge cuts and Fiscal 2024 spending levels will be similar to what they are in Fiscal 2023. NAPO does not expect state and local law enforcement assistance programs to be cut from current levels and we will work with House and Senate appropriators to ensure our priority grant programs are sufficiently funded in FY 24.

For more information on these and other legislative initiatives, please click here for the June 2,2023 Washington Report.