Register today for NAPO’s 45th Annual Convention  in Los Angeles, California July 16-19, 2023. 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; NAPO joined the sponsors of the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), Representatives Garret Graves (R-LA), Julia Letlow (R-LA), and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), and coalition partners in a meeting June 7 to discuss the status of the bill, immediate next steps, and a plan to move this important bill forward. The Social Security Fairness Act would repeal both the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and restore retirement security to millions of public servants; On June 14, the House voted to overturn President Biden’s veto of the joint resolution (H.J.Res. 42) that would have rescinded a District of Columbia (D.C.) police reform law, the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act (CPJRAA). NAPO sent a letter to every member of Congress and pushed to gain the 2/3s votes necessary to overturn the veto, but the vote failed 233-197; 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 Act also rescinds $29 billion in COVID relief and IRS funding; NAPO is collaborating with Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) to move the Public Safety Concussions and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Health Act (S. 894) through the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. We worked closely with the Senator’s staff to develop the bill, which the Senator introduced with Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV). With the riots that have occurred over the past few years and the increase in physical attacks on law enforcement officers, NAPO feels it is vital that the impacts of concussions and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) be studied and best practices be disseminated to public safety agencies, officers and their families, and medical personnel to help recognize, prevent, and treat such injuries in officers; On June 7, Representatives David Kustoff (R-TN), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Pete Stauber (R-MN), John Rutherford (R-FL), and Henry Cuellar (D-TX), introduced the Preserving Safe Communities by Ending Swatting Act (H.R. 3913). NAPO supports this legislation as swatting calls continue to be on the rise and not only are they a serious waste of resources, but they also put the officers and innocent people at the scene of the fake incident in a dangerous and difficult situation; NAPO’s updated “Sponsor/Cosponsor” spreadsheet and “Legislative Positions” documents are available on NAPO’s website.

For more details on these and other legislative issues, please click here for the June 16, 2023 Washington Report.