Metropolitan Police and Fire Service Act of 2007

Floor Speech

METROPOLITAN POLICE AND FIRE SERVICE ACT OF 2007 -- (Extensions of Remarks - May 21, 2007)

* Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Metropolitan Police Service Act of 2007. This bill would conform the federal formula for calculating its share of the District of Columbia's Firefighters and Police officers pension to the new 20 year threshold adopted by the District government.

* The original bill introduced to the D.C. City Council in 1999 set the minimum to 20 years of service, but then Chief of Police Charles Ramsey asked that the minimum be increased to 25 years. He was concerned that 300 police officers serving on the Police Department in 1999 who were eligible to retire at 20 years might retire en masse. The timeframe for these retirees has passed and the DC government has stepped up to take care of its firefighters and police officers, by resetting the eligibility to 20 years. These firefighters and police officers now request that the United States Congress fulfill its promises to these first responders.

* The Federal government made a commitment to pay District of Columbia firefighters and police officer annuity payments that accrued before 1997. Thus, it was necessary when the District of Columbia changed its formula from 25 to 20 years, that the Federal government make the same change for these first responders, so that every first responder has the opportunity for the same annuity payments that accrue at the same time.

* This legislation is consistent with what happened in 2000. At that time, the District first changed the retirement plan for Metropolitan Police Department to permit service longevity payments to be considered part of the basic compensation used to calculate the retirement annuities. Congress then followed suit in 2001, by making the adjustment in the Federal Government's share of the payments, namely, the share attributable to service provided prior to July 1997. Thus, the federal formula for its share of each affected firefighter and police officer then mirrored the formula established by the District of Columbia government.

* In January of 2007, Mayor Adrian Fenty signed a new law which amends the District of Columbia formula to provide that eligible firefighters and police officers must complete just 20 years of service to receive their long-term annuity. Chief Ramsey did not oppose the lowering of the threshold. Congress should now proceed, as it did it 2001, to change the federal formula for retirement annuities, so it mirrors the District of Columbia's.

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