F.O.P. Washington Watch: Legislative Update, Week of 31 August 2009

I.      LEGISLATIVE NEWS AND ACTIVITY

Executive Director Jim Pasco had a conversation with Billy Piper and Fred Karem, the Chief of Staff and Legal Counsel to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), to discuss S. 1611, the "Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act."
 
Executive Director Pasco met with Richard A. Serino, whom the President has nominated to be the next Deputy Administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
 
Executive Director Pasco attended a reception in honor of W. Ross Ashley III, who is ending his tenure as Assistant Administrator of the Grant Programs Directorate at FEMA.  At the reception, Executive Director Pasco spoke with several senior FEMA and DHS officials regarding funding and other issues.
 
II.  THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS

Congress is in recess for the month of August and will return next week.

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, however staff in the legislative office continues to work with the staff of Representative J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) to introduce the House companion bill to S. 1132, which was  introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in May. We expect the bill will be introduced when the House returns to session in September