I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1505 
To provide collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed 
by States or their political subdivisions, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 21, 2025 
Mr. STAUBER (for himself, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Mr. VAN DREW, Mr. BOST, Mr. 
GOLDEN of Maine, Ms. TITUS, Mr. KEAN, Ms. PETTERSEN, Ms. CRAIG, 
and Ms. LEE of Nevada) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Education and Workforce 
A BILL 
To provide collective bargaining rights for public safety offi-
cers employed by States or their political subdivisions, 
and for other purposes. 
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’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE AND POLICY. 
Congress declares that the following is the policy of 
the United States: 
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(1) Labor-management relationships and part-
nerships are based on trust, mutual respect, open 
communication, bilateral consensual problem solving, 
and shared accountability. Labor-management co-
operation fully utilizes the strengths of both parties 
to best serve the interests of the public, operating as 
a team, to carry out the public safety mission in a 
quality work environment. 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. State and local 
public safety officers, as first responders, are a com-
ponent of the National Incident Management Sys-
tem, developed by the Department of Homeland Se-
curity to coordinate response to and recovery from 
terrorism, major natural disasters, and other major 
emergencies. Public safety employer-employee co-
operation is essential in meeting these needs and is, 
therefore, in the national interest. 
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(3) The Federal Government needs to encour-
age conciliation, mediation, and arbitration to aid 
and encourage employers and the representatives of 
their employees to reach and maintain agreements 
concerning rates of pay, hours, and working condi-
tions, and to make all reasonable efforts through ne-
gotiations to settle their differences by mutual agree-
ment reached through collective bargaining or by 
such methods as may be provided for in any applica-
ble agreement for the settlement of disputes. 
(4) The absence of adequate cooperation be-
tween public safety employers and employees has im-
plications for the security of employees and can af-
fect interstate and intrastate commerce. The lack of 
such labor-management cooperation can detrimen-
tally impact the upgrading of law enforcement, fire, 
and emergency medical services of local commu-
nities, the health and well-being of public safety offi-
cers, and the morale of law enforcement, fire, and 
EMS departments. Additionally, these factors could 
have significant commercial repercussions. Moreover, 
providing minimal standards for collective bar-
gaining negotiations in the public safety sector can 
prevent industrial strife between labor and manage-
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