On May 14, NAPO President Mick McHale and Executive Director Bill Johnson participated in a National Police Week Roundtable with Attorney General Pam Bondi, White House Staff, several Republican state attorneys general, and other national law enforcement leaders to discuss federal, state, and local law enforcement priorities and ways to work collaboratively with the Department of Justice. NAPO’s leadership raised deep concerns with the lack of accountability and transparency within the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Program, which is doing irreparable harm to those who are rightly seeking death and disability benefits. Johnson highlighted the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) September 2024 rather damning Report to Congress, Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Program: Transparency, Claims Assistance, and Program Management Improvements Needed, which emphasizes program deficiencies negatively impacting claimants. NAPO is working with several claimants and their families whose PSOB death and disability claims have been pending over 3 years. 

In a significant victory for NAPO on May 14, the House passed the LEOSA Reform Act (H.R. 2243) by a bipartisan vote of 229 – 193. NAPO worked with Congress to enact the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA) in 2004 to allow well-qualified off-duty and retired officers to carry their firearms for the protection of themselves, their families, and our nation’s communities. The Reform bill would expand the areas where qualified current or retired officers are allowed to carry a firearm.

On May 15, the House passed the Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act (H.R. 2240) by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 403 – 11. NAPO supports this bill to expand reporting requirements and fill data gaps to increase understanding of the circumstances involved in ambush-style attacks against law enforcement. 

On May 15, in honor of National Police Week, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved eight NAPO-supported bills: the Improving Police Critical Aid for Responding to Emergencies (CARE) Act (S. 1595), Retired Law Enforcement Officers Continuing Service Act (S. 1563), the Strong Communities Act (S. 1316), the Protecting First Responders from Secondary Exposure Act (S. 180), the Reauthorizing STOIC Act (S. 419), the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act (S. 237), the Chief Herbert D. Proffitt Act (S. 911), and the PROTECT Our Children Reauthorization Act (S. 539).

In the early morning hours of May 22, the House of Representatives passed Republicans’ One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, the reconciliation package extending President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, adding tax cuts, increasing funding for defense and border security, and making significant cuts to federal spending. The bill passed by a narrow margin of 215-214. It would impact NAPO members as follows: no tax on overtime pay (with a pay cap), an increase in the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap, and an end to de minimis treatment for all low-value commercial shipments effective July 1, 2027, which will help stop illicit narcotics coming across our borders. To qualify for no tax on overtime, an individual must be eligible for overtime pay under Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act and not make more than $160,000 in 2025. The pay cap increases yearly with inflation and is based off of the IRS’s definition of “highly compensated employee” and will be allowed for tax years 2025-2028. The bill increases the SALT deduction cap from $10,000 to $40,000 with an income cap of $500,000. The income cap and deduction increase one percent every year for 10 years and becomes permanent.

The U.S. Department of State certified Cuba as a “not fully cooperating country” for failing to extradite at least 11 fugitives in 2024 to U.S. custody, hampering counterterrorism efforts. Cuba now joins Iran, Syria, Venezuela and North Korea as “not fully cooperating countries,” which prohibits the sale or license for export of defense services to Cuba.

On May 21, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division announced it is dismissing two lawsuits with preliminary consent decrees: Louisville, Kentucky and Minneapolis, Minnesota.  It is also closing its investigations into and retracting the Biden Administration’s findings of constitutional violations on the part of six police departments: Phoenix, Arizona; Trenton, New Jersey; Memphis, Tennessee; Mount Vernon, New York; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and the Louisiana State Police. 

Register for NAPO’s 47th Annual Convention July 20 – 23, 2025 at Arizona Biltmore Resort.

The 2025 COPS Hiring Program is offering competitive grants up to $156 million to fund law enforcement agencies to hire or rehire officers, increase community policing and crime prevention efforts. Apply here by July 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM ET. 

The 2025 Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act program funds the delivery of and access to mental health and wellness services, training, and programming for law employees and their families with up to $9.8 million available. Apply here by June 30, 2025, at 4:59 PM ET.

The 2025 COPS Blue Alert Program seeks applications from organizations to support the COPS Office with coordinating and expanding awareness of the Blue Alert system. Apply here by June 30, 2025, at 4:59 PM ET.

The 2025 Anti-Heroin Task Force program is a competitive grant program that assists state law enforcement agencies in states with high per capita rates of primary treatment admissions for both heroin and other opioids. Up to $35 million is available by applying here by July 2, 2025, at 4:59 PM ET.

Safer Outcomes funds promote de-escalation and crisis response training for law enforcement, personnel employed by law enforcement, and mental health professionals working on law enforcement crisis intervention teams. Apply here.

For more on these and other legislative issues, click here for the May 22, 2025 Washington Report.