Dear NAPO members,

NAPO has learned and has obtained a copy of a draft Presidential Executive Order on police reform that is being circulated.  The draft Order would implement much of Senator Booker’s police reform legislative proposal that we fought so hard to stop last year, and which was rejected by Congress.  The new proposed Executive Order cannot do away with qualified immunity or expand Section 242 of U.S. Title 18 (criminal prosecution of officers for civil rights violations) as it is an Executive Order, not a law, but  it does recommend that Congress make significant changes to those long-standing officer protections. A full summary of the Executive Order can be found attached.  It is important to shine a light on this draft Order as it is a bad proposal that does nothing to safeguard officers’ rights or safety and we urge that it should not be issued.   Please share this information with your membership and urge them to make your and their objections known via Social Media (@POTUS, @WhiteHouse) or mail at the addresses below:

The Honorable Joseph R. Biden
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Ambassador Susan E. Rice
Director
Domestic Policy Council
Room 469
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20502

The draft order can be viewed here.  Please note that the draft Order has not been shared with us, despite our repeated requests to the Administration.  These screen shots have been uploaded, probably by a concerned federal employee.

We will continue to update you on the status of this draft and any Executive Order that threatens to harm law enforcement.

View Draft Order Highlights Here

State PBA President Pat Colligan and Executive Vice President Marc Kovar today joined NAPO leaders from around the United States at the White House to meet with President Trump and Vice President Pence to discuss combatting the national anti-police sentiment and to announce NAPO’s endorsement of the President’s re-election.

NAPO recently voted to endorse the President after backing former Vice President Biden in 2008 and 2012.  President Trump has frequently spoken out in favor of the nation’s law enforcement officers and he has been especially supportive recently as some public officials have spoken out against and threatened to defund law enforcement.  

President Colligan and Executive Vice President Kovar both spoke to the President during the meeting with NAPO leaders to express the disappointment of the State PBA in those officials that criticize law enforcement officers while ignoring the outbreak of lawlessness and murder that has spread across the nation.

Executive Vice President Kovar, who serves as a NAPO elected officer, told the President: “Too many elected officials have let us down despite the fact that New Jersey officers do their job professionally and with less need for force than officers in nearly every other State.”

President Colligan has been outspoken that the public campaign against the police is not only bad for morale and officer safety but the effort to limit the powers and response of the police is empowering a dangerous criminal element in too many places.

The meeting at the White House was also attended by PBA and NAPO leaders from New York, Florida, Massachusetts and Texas as well.  The President once again reiterated his support for the law enforcement community and pledged to continue to fight to keep officers and our communities safe. 

View Official Announcement Here

In a victory for NAPO, the House passed H.R. 6509, the Public Safety Officers Pandemic Response Act, and S. 2746, the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act, on May 27, 2020.

The Public Safety Officer Pandemic Response Act, sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), would establish that COVID-19 shall be presumed to have been contracted as a result of the officer’s service for the purposes of PSOB death and disability benefits. It would create a specific standard for COVID-19-related disability this is based on whether a PSOB claimant is permanently prevented from performing any gainful work as a public safety officer due to their COVID-19 diagnosis. Finally, it would recognize the physical toll 9/11 related illnesses have had on first responders by covering under the PSOB Program those public safety officers whose 9/11 related illness are compounded by a COVID-19 diagnosis and lead to their death or disability.

As the House and Senate passed different versions of a COVID-19 PSOB presumption (the Senate passed S. 3607, the Safeguarding America’s First Responders Act on May 14), NAPO is working with both Chairman Nadler’s staff and Senator Grassley’s staff to push for a quick compromise on a PSOB presumption bill that both chambers can agree on. Both bills establish the same presumption for death benefits and create a presumption for disability benefits, but H.R. 6509 also extends benefits to public safety officers who suffer from a 9/11 related illness and contract COVID-19 and has a more generous disability benefit threshold. We will keep you updated on these efforts.

S. 2746, the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act would require the Department of Justice to establish a program to collect data on law enforcement and former law enforcement suicides at the local, State, and Federal level. This bill passed the Senate on May 14 and is on its way to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

Lastly, a reminder to please let me know if the agencies or departments you represent are experiencing actual or threatened furloughs of employees due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. We are tracking this information as it is  important for our continued fight for increased, flexible funding for state and local governments to help offset budget and revenue holes to stave off or end the furloughing of officers.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need more information.

Thank you and stay safe,
Andy

Andrea Edmiston
Director of Governmental Affairs
National Association of Police Organizations
317 S. Patrick Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314

Dear NAPO members,

Things here continue to grow more restrictive regarding public gatherings of any kind.  The time frames for those restrictions also continue to be extended farther into the year.  So we’ve had to conclude that our 2020 TOP COPS Awards will not be able to be held as first scheduled on May 14 at the MGM National Harbor outside Washington, D.C.    This decision also applies to our May 13 Lobby Day on Capitol Hill and Legislative Luncheon.

All the NAPO elected officers, as well as our own in house staff, in evaluating the current public health situation as well as the outside recommendations and prohibitions from the CDC, the Office of the President, the U.S. Capitol Complex, the U.S. Congress , the District of Columbia government, and the State of Maryland government, unanimously see this the same way.  It is not possible, (in fact it would be illegal under the current executive orders) to hold our event as originally scheduled. 

Having said that, it is also very important to us individually and as an organization that we honor the men and women who were nominated by their peers and selected as this year’s TOP COPS.  We are looking at the two remaining NAPO events for 2020 that we already have scheduled, our annual convention in Ohio in July, and our fall seminar in Florida in October. 

Given that we need to reset our TOP COPS Awards for this year to a later date and location, we are trying to reset it only once.  This is for several reasons:  To try to make it as smooth as possible under the circumstances, recognizing that some disruption in plans is unavoidable.  To work within the travel requirements for our Award winners, whose airline tickets can generally only be changed once without penalty.  To save unnecessary time, cost and expense that would be incurred in moving it twice.  And to do our best to set the new date/venue sufficiently far in the future so as to have the best chance of being out from under the current gathering and travel restrictions.

Since none of us know how long or to what degree of restriction current and future public health regulations will extend, we are going to look at moving TOP COPS to the October meeting as our best chance under the circumstances.  We still are planning a successful convention in Cleveland in July, but the possibility of restrictions still being in place regarding larger gatherings make it more prudent to try to move the Awards program later in the year.

Thank you to Tom Austin and the OPBA for all the work they’ve already done and continue to do to make our convention a success.

To sum up:         

1. TOP COPS will not be held May 14 in Washington. 
2. TOP COPS will be held later this year.
3. Our May 13 Lobby Day and Legislative Luncheon are cancelled.  We can provide the legislative awards directly to deserving Members of Congress and their staffs later in the year.
4. Our convention is still set for Ohio in July.
5. Our fall seminar is still set for Florida in October. 
6. We are resetting our TOP COPS Awards dinner to coincide with our October meeting in Florida.   Most likely about the week of October 18.
7. We will notify everyone of more information regarding the new date/location as soon as it is firmed up.

From every one of our office staff, thank you very much for your understanding and support during these unusual times.  Please do let me know of any questions, comments or concerns.

Sincerely,
Bill Johnson

William J. Johnson, Esq., CAE
Executive Director
National Association of Police Organizations

Today, President Trump will sign funding legislation that was passed by Congress that will once and for all end the potential of the Cadillac Tax that imposes a 40% tax on health plans that cost over $10,200 for single coverage and $27,500 for families. While there is an extension for highly dangerous jobs (police, fire, railroad and electrical linemen etc.) many employers have used the potential of this tax to influence negotiations in an attempt to reduce the level of benefits our members receive.

While the tax was a crucial funding mechanism for the subsidies on the ACA exchanges it would have been catastrophic to our members and their health insurance. Congress also approved the removal of a medical device tax and a health insurance plan tax, both were being delayed along with the Cadillac tax that was set to be implemented in 2022. The State PBA is grateful to our national affiliate, NAPO who took the lead lobbying congress to repeal this poorly designed tax on a benefit that is so important to our members.

December 20, 2019
NAPO Victory! Cadillac Tax Repealed
 
In significant victory for NAPO and our members, Congress repealed the “Cadillac Tax”, the 40 percent excise tax on employer-sponsored health plans, as part of the Fiscal 2020 appropriations agreement (H.R. 1865).  NAPO pressed Congressional leaders to support the inclusion of the Cadillac Tax repeal as part of any year-end, must pass legislative package. We applaud Congress for finally listening to us, to employers, workers, health plans and employee organizations who have been calling for the repeal of the tax since 2015 and we thank them for protecting public safety employees' hard-earned health benefits. 
 
The Cadillac Tax was not just a tax on health plans; it was a loss of earned wages and benefits. Over the years, law enforcement officers through collective bargaining have often given up pay increases in order to secure better health care coverage. Under the excise tax, they were being penalized for entering into those good faith agreements with their employing jurisdictions. If the Cadillac Tax was allowed to be implemented, it would force public safety employees to pay the tax in the form of wage cuts, higher premiums, increased out-of-pocket costs, and lower benefits.
 
The repeal of the Cadillac Tax ensures public safety employees can maintain affordable, full coverage healthcare for themselves and their families.