FOP Meets with Congressional Staff & Other Organizations on LEO Retirement Bill
On February 5 and 6, representatives of the Federal Coalition, Federal Officers' Committee, and the National Legislative Office met with congressional staff and other interested organizations regarding the issue of law enforcement or 6(c) retirement. Hosted by the offices of Rep. Bob Filner and Sen. Barbara Mikulski, the meeting focused on the reintroduction of legislation to include additional Federal officers under the provision of chapters 83 and 84 of Title 5, U.S. Code. During this very productive session, the participants came together to provide recommendations to the congressional staff regarding several issues. Discussion centered on the issues of system coverage and efforts which should be taken to reduce the overall cost of the legislation.
On the issue of system coverage, the representatives from the F.O.P. successfully argued for a uniform, across the board inclusion of Federal Police Officers (among others) in the new version for the 107th Congress. For the F.O.P., the issue is one of fairness and professionalism, and the unequal retirement benefits that are available to Criminal Investigators but not to uniformed police officers under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The Fraternal Order of Police has been a strong advocate for uniform retirement system coverage based primarily on the duties and responsibilities that theofficers perform on a daily basis.
One of the biggest concerns of the Subcommittee on Civil Service with regard to H.R. 1228 in the 106th Congress was the overall cost of implementing the legislation. Recommendations were made to congressional staff that in order to reduce the per year cost of this legislation to the various agencies, they should be allowed to spread out their required payments to the two retirement funds over a given number of years. While the retirement coverage would be instantaneous for the officers themselves once the bill is enacted into law, spreading out the cost over several years would not require the agency to make one lump sum payment--making the bill more affordable to fiscal year budgets.
Congressman Filner, appearing at one of the sessions, reemphasized his strong support for the legislation and his commitment to help Federal law enforcement officers obtain this long sought after benefit. Congressional staff will take the recommendations from the meeting to create a draft of the new bill which will be carefully reviewed by the F.O.P., and we will keep you informed of the latest information as it becomes available.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact the National Legislative Office if you have any questions or require additional information.
Sincerely,
Chris L. Granberg
Legislative Assistant
Fraternal Order of Police (O) (202) 547-8189
National Legislative Office (F) (202) 547-8190
309 Massachusetts Ave., NE
Washington, DC 20002
FOP National Legislative Office
Fraternal Order of Police Grand Lodge
Back to The FOC Legislative Issues Page.
Return to The Federal Coalition's Home Page.
Please direct all comments to: 
lewhetsel@verizon.net The Webmaster.
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 21st, 2005