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Steve Gaynor

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We will post the Grand Lodges “Grassroots Report” each week on this site. It contains information on what your Grand Lodge is doing for you in Washington and updates you on FOP legislation. Contact President Carlton Stallings to become a member of the Grassroots Program.

Washington Watch: Legislative Update
For the Week of 4 August 2008

In This Weeks Edition

I.      This Week in Congress
II.     Legislative News and Activity
III.    Update on FOP Top Legislative Priorities
IV.     Update on LEOSA
V.      FOP NEWS:Congressional Questionnaire Posted
VI.     FOP NEWS: FOP Wins Changes to Bill to Recognize All Law Enforcement Officers for Acts of Bravery

I.   THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS

The House and Senate are currently in recess and will not reconvene until Monday, 8 September.

II. LEGISLATIVE NEWS AND ACTIVITY
Executive Director Jim Pasco met with Terry Lierman, Chief of Staff to Representative Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD), the House Majority Leader, to discuss Federal funding for law enforcement, particularly the Edward J. Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants (Byrne-JAG) and those grants administered by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).

Executive Director Pasco also met with W. Ross Ashley III, Assistant Administrator for Grant Programs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to discuss this week's stakeholder meeting (see below).

Executive Director Pasco and Senior Legislative Liaison Tim Richardson attended a two-day meeting and briefing of law enforcement stakeholders hosted by the DHS. The following DHS officals were among those in attendance: Assistant Secretary for State and Local Law Enforcement Edmund M. Sexton, Law Enforcement Advisor to the FEMA Administrator Charles F. Dinse, Deputy Administrator of the National Preparedness Directorate Dennis Schrader, and FEMA Assistant Administrator Ashley. The whole range of DHS/law enforcement issues were discussed during the course of the two-day meeting. The FOP was the only rank-and-file law enforcement organization to participate.

III. UPDATE ON FOP TOP LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

For the complete list of cosponsors for all of our top legislative priorities, or to find out if your Representative and Senators are cosponsors of specific bills, check out http://thomas.loc.gov .

With Congress out of session, no changes to the status of our top priorities were possible.

IV.     UPDATE ON LEGISLATION AMENDING LEOSA

With Congress out of session, no changes to the status of legislation amending the Law Enforcement Officers' Safety Act were possible.

V.   FOP NEWS: Model Congressional Questionnaire Posted on Website
A model questionnaire for use by State and local Lodges to aid them in evaluating candidates for Congress has been posted on the main page of the Grand Lodge website. The questions are drawn from issues being lobbied by the Grand Lodge on Capitol Hill.

You can find it here: http://www.fop.net/legislative/congquest08.pdf

It is particularly important for the State and local Lodges to endorse candidates who support our top priority items and oppose those candidates who do not. The success of the National Legislative Program depends on having an active grassroots base and on electing lawmakers who support our pro-law enforcement agenda.

VI.   FOP NEWS: FOP Wins Changes to Bill to Recognize All Law Enforcement Officers for Acts of Bravery

Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, applauded the signing of S. 2565, the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery Act, into law last week. The bill signed by the President was markedly different than it was as introduced, largely because of the efforts of the FOP.

The original bill created a medal for Federal, and only Federal, law enforcement officers who were injured in the line of duty, Canterbury explained. Given that more than ninety percent of all law enforcement officers in the United States work at the State or local level, it seemed a gross oversight to ignore their daily acts of bravery.

The bill as originally introduced, H.R. 4056, passed the House in April and, during its consideration by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the FOP weighed in with the sponsor of the Senate companion bill, Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE), as well as Senators Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee, respectively. As a result of our intervention, the legislation now establishes a Congressional Badge of Bravery, one for Federal law enforcement officers and another for State and local law enforcement officers, to recognize acts of bravery by these everyday heroes. Two separate review boards, both of which are required by statute to have FOP representatives, will select from a pool of nominees to make an award to an officer or officers that were injured in the line of duty while performing an act of bravery.

The FOP strongly believes that we, as a nation, need to do a better job of recognizing the bravery, the sacrifice, and commitment of law enforcement officers at every level of government, particularly those who are injured while protecting their fellow citizens, Canterbury said. We are particularly indebted to Senators Leahy and Biden, who worked extensively with us to craft language that would afford all officers the recognition they deserve.

The bill, S. 2565, was signed into law and is now Public Law No. 110-298.

You can click on the below link to write to your government representatives

To locate contact information for your elected officials and send a letter, please visit
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/state/main/?state=GA

Click here to email Steve Gaynor