Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
This bill would guarantee collective bargaining rights for public safety officers across all states. It directs the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to evaluate whether each state adequately provides collective bargaining rights to police, firefighters, and EMS workers. States that fall short would be subject to federal regulations establishing minimum standards including the right to organize, bargain collectively over wages and working conditions, and access fair grievance procedures. The bill prohibits strikes and lockouts by public safety workers and employers, preserves existing collective bargaining agreements, and does not preempt state laws that provide equal or greater protections.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Establishes a federal framework guaranteeing collective bargaining rights for state and local public safety officers (law enforcement, firefighters, EMS) by empowering the Federal Labor Relations Authority to set minimum standards for states that lack adequate labor-management cooperation laws.
Who Benefits
- Public safety officer labor unions
- Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and EMS workers in states without collective bargaining
- Federal Labor Relations Authority (expanded jurisdiction)
Who Bears Costs
- State and local governments that currently prohibit public safety collective bargaining
- States required to meet federal minimum standards
- Taxpayers funding collective bargaining outcomes
Key Policy Areas
{'domain': 'Labor', 'evidence': 'Creates collective bargaining rights including good-faith negotiation, grievance procedures, fair-share fees, and unfair labor practice protections for public safety officers'}, {'domain': 'Public Safety', 'evidence': 'Applies to law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical services employees who serve as first responders'}, {'domain': 'Government Operations', 'evidence': 'Empowers the Federal Labor Relations Authority to evaluate state laws and impose federal regulations where states fail to meet minimum standards'}
Primary Purpose
Establishes a federal framework guaranteeing collective bargaining rights for state and local public safety officers (law enforcement, firefighters, EMS) by empowering the Federal Labor Relations Authority to set minimum standards for states that lack adequate labor-management cooperation laws.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Uses federal preemption power to set a floor for public safety labor rights, while preserving state laws that exceed the federal minimum, avoiding controversy over right-to-work by explicitly not requiring union membership as condition of employment"
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Hickenlooper (for himself and Ms. Hassan) introduced the following …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Federal Labor Relations Authority, States with existing strong collective bargaining laws, States with right-to-work laws
Federal Labor Relations Authority faces effects in multiple directions
Positive-direction: States with existing strong collective bargaining laws, States with right-to-work laws
Negative-direction: States without public safety collective bargaining laws
Public safety officer labor organizations, Public safety officer labor unions
Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and EMS workers, State and local public safety officers
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_authority"
- → Federal Labor Relations Authority
- "public_safety_employer"
- → State or political subdivision employing public safety officers
- "the_authority"
- → Federal Labor Relations Authority
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The Federal Labor Relations Authority
Organization of any kind in which public safety officers participate for dealing with employer concerning grievances, conditions of employment, and related matters
Employee of a public safety employer who is a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or emergency medical services employee
State or political subdivision employing public safety officers
Individual with authority to hire, direct, assign, promote, reward, transfer, furlough, lay off, recall, suspend, discipline, or handle grievances, if exercise of authority requires independent judgment
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology