FLEOA Responds to Congress On Protecting Our Pay and Privacy
This has been a challenging time for government employees. FLEOA
has been in the forefront fighting to keep law enforcement officer's hard
earned pay, benefits and personal information intact.
Many of you saw and brought to our attention the Government
Executive article reporting that the House of Representatives Budget committee
released proposed budget savings of $32B by increasing contributions to
annuities and ending the retirement annuity supplement. Although the
legislation does not specify the amount of contributions or which
employeesupplementals would be eliminated, it is apparent that law
enforcement will be effected. I immediately responded to Chairman Gowdy
and Ranking Member Cummings voicing the concerns of our members, like USCP Special Agents
Bailey and Griner, who put their lives on the line protecting members of
Congress and the public. I expressed that our pensions were valuable
recruitment and retention tools that attracted and retained the highest quality
employees. I alsoexplained how the supplement was needed to remedy the
loss in retirement benefits caused by mandatory retirement. I asked that in
their deliberationsthat they ensure that our pay and benefits are
protected and that our pension system is retained.
Another legislative issue of concern is a bill introduced by Representative Ron
DeSantis (R-FL) that would expose our retirement information to the public. On
July 12, 2017, Representative DeSantis introduced H.R. 3200 "Taxpayer Funded Pension Disclosure Act." This bill
would make available under the Freedom of Information Act the pension records
of annuitants. This would include: agency, division, position, location, date
of appointment, monthly annuity, grade, annuity contributions, total wages,
credits, and retirement date. Iresponded with our opposition to
releasing this information about law enforcement officers. Specifically, that the release of this information would not
only jeopardize the safety of our members and their families, but could
compromise prosecutions and confidential task force operations. In conclusion,
I likened this type of release as being as detrimental as the OPM data
compromise by a foreign intelligence service.
In conclusion, I want to assure you that we are taking every
opportunity to oppose these and any other bills that woulddetrimentally
effect your pay and benefits. We areimmediately responding to their
introduction in letters to the Committees and Members, and follow up with
meetings with their respective staffs by our legislative team.
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