The holiday season has
begun and I thought I would take this opportunity to update all of our members
on FLEOAs ongoing efforts and multiple successes in protecting your interests,
benefits, and pay. Last week, I attended the Attorney General's Holiday
Party where I had the opportunity to chat with Attorney General Jeff Sessions
about FLEOA and our shared opposition to the Sentencing Reform and Corrections
Act. I was also able to affirm our ongoing alliances with other associations
(including NOBLE, HAPCOA, and NNALE) whose executives were attending the
celebration
The media has been
heavily focused on Congressional Tax Reform and the looming government
shutdown. We have alerted both the House and the Senate of our concerns
over the proposed elimination of the exclusion for qualified moving expense
reimbursements and, as far as the threatened shutdown, we have been there
before and survived. I must remind you that this Congress is looking for
any savings to offset the loss of revenue from tax cuts. Therefore
trying to get members to sponsor bills that spend additional money on
government benefits is extremely difficult, if not impossible.
Under the leadership of
V.P. Dominic Stokes, the Legislative Committee has expanded to 25 members.
Committee members now accompany me to Hill meetings and help author endorsement
and opposition letters on legislation. For example this past week, we
endorsed a bill criminalizing the use of illegal substances as inducements to
the trafficking of sex slaves. We are actively endorsing multiple bills
including ones that prevent money laundering, providing tax exemptions for
federal agents in war zones, the Fair RETIRE Act, eliminating Social Security's
Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision, Asset Forfeiture
and the Postal Bill. In addition, the Legislative Committee will be
polling Agency Presidents to determine the extent that pay caps
are penalizing the proper reimbursement of overtime pay.
Two weeks ago, President
Nate Catura, Chris Granberg and I met with House Leadership, House Judiciary,
Senate Judiciary and House Law Enforcement Caucus members and staff. We
discussed the Tax Bill, Budget proposals detrimental to law enforcement, and
pending legislation like the Probation Officer Protection Act and the Secret
Service Overtime Act. Whenever we meet with leadership, we re-iterate how
law enforcement should be exempted from any proposed changes in retirement
benefits as part of any future budget resolutions or government spending plans.
This is because: we have a mandatory age 57 retirement, we can't extend our
retirement dates if retirement uses a "high 5" calculation, we have
already paid for the Social Security Supplemental and our retirement fund is
solvent!
When he retires next
year, we will be losing LE Caucus Leader Rep Dave Reichert (R-WA) who is a
former sheriff and steadfast supporter of Law Enforcement. We had a very
productive meeting with another member of the Law Enforcement Caucus, Val
Demings (D-FL), who is the former Chief of Police from Orlando. In addition to
other meetings, we also met with Buddy Carter (R-GA) who represents Savanah and
FLETC. He has sponsored a Bill to Recalculate Veteran's Benefits which
will impact on many of our member's pensions.
The cornerstone of
Nate's visit was his awarding US Capitol Police Special Agents David Bailey and
Crystal Griner with the FLEOA President' Award for their bravery when they
responded to the June shooting at a Congressional Baseball Practice. This was a
poignant reminder of our members protecting others!
Last year, FLEOA
successfully participated in the passage of an unprecedented amount of
legislation. Through our legislative endorsements, our partnership with
other law enforcement associations (Like FOP, NAPO, NNOAC, NSA, IACP etc.) and
our Police Week visits to instrumental Members of Congress we witnessed the
passage of 16 Significant pieces of legislation like: The "Rafael Ramos
and Wenjian Liu National Blue Alert Act," the "Defending Public
Safety Employees' Retirement Act," the "Federal Law Enforcement
Self-Defense and Protection Act," the "FLETC Reform and Improvement
Act," the "FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act,"
and the "Overtime Pay for Protective Services Act."
In this Congress, we
have seen 4 of our priority legislative endorsements become law: The "PSOB
Improvements Act," the "American Law Enforcement Heroes Act,"
the "Rapid DNA Act," and the "PROTECT Our Children Act."
The "Secret Service Recruitment and Retention Act" is set for final
passage and be sent to the President before Christmas. Seven other FLEOA
such as the "Thin Blue Line Act," the "Probation Officer
Protection Act," the "Honoring Hometown Heroes Act," and the
"Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act"- have each passed
one Chamber of Congress, and several could go to the President before the end
of the year
Members have been asking
about another bill that we have been following, The "TSP Modernization Act
of 2017" which recently passed and was signed into law in November. This b
new law will allow employees and retirees to make multiple age-based
withdrawals from their Thrift Savings Plan accounts and remain eligible for
partial withdrawals after they leave government. In addition, retirees
will be able to make multiple partial post-separation withdrawals. Also, those
receiving monthly payments could change the amount of annuity at any time and
could change payment frequency.
Before the end of the
year, we will be meeting with several agency heads and trying to schedule a
follow-up meeting with the White House Liaison with Law Enforcement to discuss,
amongst other issues, 24/7 carriage of weapons by Postal Police,
Veteran's Affairs Police, and other agencies that put unarmed officers in dangerous
situations.
In closing, besides our
legislative successes, this has been a year filled with tragedy. We have lost
brave agents, and hurricanes have left Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands in
devastation. The recent Wildfires in California remind us how violent nature
can become and that everything can change in a minute. FLEOA tries to continue
to be watchful and have your backs! Have a safe and happy Christmas, Chanukah,
Kwanza and New Year!
Pat O'Carroll
Executive Director