I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 980 
To provide collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed 
by States or their political subdivisions. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 12, 2007 
Mr. KILDEE (for himself and Mr. DUNCAN) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To provide collective bargaining rights for public safety 
officers employed by States or their political subdivisions. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Safety Em-
ployer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF PURPOSE . 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Labor-management relationships and part-
nerships are based on trust, mutual respect, open 
communication, bilateral consensual problem solving, 
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and shared accountability. In many public safety 
agencies it is the union that provides the institu-
tional stability as elected leaders and appointees 
come and go. 
(2) State and local public safety officers play an 
essential role in the efforts of the United States to 
detect, prevent, and respond to terrorist attacks, and 
to respond to natural disasters, hazardous materials, 
and other mass casualty incidents. As the first to ar-
rive on scene, State and local public safety officers 
must be prepared to protect life and property and to 
preserve scarce and vital Federal resources, avoid 
substantial and debilitating interference with inter-
state and foreign commerce, and to protect the na-
tional security of the United States. Public safety 
employer-employee cooperation is essential in meet-
ing these needs and is, therefore, in the National in-
terest. 
(3) The health and safety of the Nation and the 
best interests of public safety employers and employ-
ees can be best protected by the settlement of issues 
through the processes of collective bargaining. 
(4) The Federal Government needs to encour-
age conciliation, mediation, and voluntary arbitra-
tion to aid and encourage employers and the rep-
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resentatives of their employees to reach and main-
tain agreements concerning rates of pay, hours, and 
working conditions, and to make all reasonable ef-
forts through negotiations to settle their differences 
by mutual agreement reached through collective bar-
gaining or by such methods as may be provided for 
in any applicable agreement for the settlement of 
disputes. 
(5) The absence of adequate cooperation be-
tween public safety employers and employees has im-
plications for the security of employees, impacts the 
upgrading of police and fire services of local commu-
nities, the health and well-being of public safety offi-
cers, and the morale of the fire and police depart-
ments, and can affect interstate and intrastate com-
merce. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘Authority’’ means the Federal 
Labor Relations Authority. 
(2) The term ‘‘public safety officer’’— 
(A) means an employee of a public safety 
agency who is a law enforcement officer, a fire-
fighter, or emergency medical services per-
sonnel; 
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