NAPO pledged its support for the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, H.R. 5378 which would promote price transparency in the health care sector, including for prescription drugs. The legislation would require hospitals, insurance companies, labs, imaging providers, and ambulatory surgical centers to publicly list the prices they charge patients, empowering patients to make educated choices about the treatment and services available.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office just released a report, Recruitment and Retention for the Modern Law Enforcement Agency, that reviews the issues and
possible solutions and strategies discussed April 18 when NAPO participated in a Recruitment and Retention Convening held by the Department of Justice and led by the BJA and COPS Office. The purpose was to focus on identifying short-term responses and long-term strategies in support of law enforcement agencies and their efforts to recruit and retain qualified professionals. While NAPO agrees with many of the recommendations, NAPO voiced strong opposition to a proposal, under the “Benefits and Incentives” section, which suggests agencies consider shifting away from traditional defined benefit pension plans towards defined contribution or 401(k) plans that are more portable.
On Sept. 28, the House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the Rape Kit Backlog Progress Act, H.R. 5721. While NAPO supports the intent of the bill – to track state and local law enforcement agencies’ progress on clearing their sexual assault kit backlogs – we have concerns that the bill pursues its goals through penalties to the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) Program. NAPO sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) expressing our concerns with the bill.
NAPO continues to reach out to lawmakers to garner additional cosponsors for the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act, which would recognize 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.
While the House of Representatives has been without a Speaker for over two weeks, NAPO has been focusing on the work that needs to be done once a new Speaker is elected, which includes the passage of the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal 2024. The House passed its NDAA on July 14 and the Senate passed its version on July 27. The House and Senate must now come together in a conference committee to work out the differences between the two versions.
NAPO is supporting the Interdiction of Fentanyl in Postal Mail at Federal Prisons Act, H.R. 5266, which would require the Director of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to develop and implement a strategy to interdict fentanyl and other synthetic drugs in the mail at Federal correctional facilities through the use of digital mail scanning or other interdiction technology.
Join NAPO Jan. 28 – 30, 2024 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for NAPO’s 35th Annual Police, Fire, EMS & Municipal Employee Pension & Benefits Seminar.
For more details on these and other legislative issues, please click here for the Oct. 20, 2023 Washington Report.
