Posted by: jgomori Posted date: October 1, 2021

With bipartisan police reform apparently dead and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act not going anywhere in the Senate, Democrats are expected to try to pass partisan reform provisions through other pieces of legislation; In a victory for NAPO, an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal 2022, H.R. 4350, offered by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), was defeated. That amendment would have restricted state and local law enforcement’s access to surplus military equipment through the Department of Defense and other federal grant programs. The amendment failed by a vote of 198-231, with 21 Democrats voting against it and two Republicans voting for it; NAPO, together with our public safety pension partners, is working on introducing legislation that would enhance and address issues with the HELPS Retirees provision of the Pension Protection Act of 2006; NAPO Executive Director Bill Johnson was quoted in a Sept. 11, 2021 Associated Press article entitled, “Unions split on vaccine mandates, complicating Biden push”. The article focused on the split among labor organizations after President Biden announced his proposed vaccine mandate on employers with more than 100 employees; and NAPO’s updated “Sponsor/Cosponsor” spreadsheet is available on NAPO’s website. The spreadsheet accompanies the latest “Legislative Positions” document, which is also available on the NAPO website.

For more on these and other legislative updates, please click on the Oct. 1, 2021 Washington Report link below.

 Oct. 1, 2021 Washington Report