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, 
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 may be furthered by the settlement of issues 
through the processes of collective bargaining. 
(4) The Federal Government is in the position 
to encourage conciliation, mediation, and voluntary 
arbitration to aid and encourage employers and the 
representatives of their employees to reach and 
maintain agreements concerning rates of pay, hours, 
and working conditions, and to make all reasonable 
efforts through negotiations to settle their dif-
ferences by mutual agreement reached through col-
lective bargaining or by such methods as may be 
provided for in any applicable agreement for the set-
tlement of disputes. 
(5) The potential absence of adequate coopera-
tion between public safety employers and employees 
has implications for the security of employees, im-
pacts the upgrading of police and fire services of 
local communities, the health and well-being of pub-
lic safety officers, and the morale of the fire and po-
lice departments, and can affect interstate and 
intrastate commerce. 
(6) Many States and localities already provide 
public safety officers with collective bargaining
rights comparable to or greater than the rights and 
responsibilities set forth in this Act, and such State 
laws should be respected. 
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; 
(B) includes an individual who is tempo-
rarily transferred to a supervisory or manage-
ment position; and 
(C) does not include a permanent super-
visory or management employee. 
(3) The term ‘‘firefighter’’ has the same mean-
ing given the term ‘‘employee in fire protection ac-
tivities’’ defined in section 3 of the Fair Labor 
Standards Act (29 U.S.C. 203(y)). 
(4) The term ‘‘emergency medical services per-
sonnel’’ means an individual who provides out-of- 
hospital emergency medical care, including an emer-
gency medical technician, paramedic, or first re-
sponder. 
(5) The term ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ has the 
same meaning given such term in section 1204(5) of 
the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 
1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796b(5)). 
(6) The term ‘‘supervisory employee’’ has the 
meaning given such term, or a substantially equiva-
lent term, under applicable State law on the date of 
enactment of this Act. In the absence of such State 
law on the date of enactment of this Act, the term 
means an individual, employed by a public safety 
employer, who— 
(A) has the authority in the interest of the 
employer to hire, direct, assign, promote, re-
ward, transfer, furlough, lay off, recall, sus-
pend, discipline, or remove public safety offi-
cers, to adjust their grievances, or to effectively 
recommend such action, if the exercise of the 
authority is not merely routine or clerical in na-
ture but requires the consistent exercise of 
independent judgment; and 
(B) devotes a preponderance of employ-
ment time exercising such authority.
(7) The term ‘‘management employee’’ has the 
meaning given such term, or a substantially equiva-
lent term, under applicable State law in effect on the 
date of enactment of this Act. If no such State law 
is in effect, the term means an individual employed 
by a public safety employer in a position that re-
quires or authorizes the individual to formulate, de-
termine, or influence the policies of the employer. 
(8) The terms ‘‘employer’’ and ‘‘public safety 
agency’’ mean any State, political subdivision of a 
State, the District of Columbia, or any territory or 
possession of the United States that employs public 
safety officers. 
(9) The term ‘‘labor organization’’ means an 
organization composed in whole or in part of em-
ployees, in which employees participate, and the pur-
pose of which is to represent such employees before 
public safety agencies concerning grievances, condi-
tions of employment and related matters. 
(10) The term ‘‘substantially provides’’ means 
substantial compliance with the rights and respon-
sibilities described in section 4(b). 
SEC. 4. DETERMINATION OF RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBIL-
ITIES. 
(a) DETERMINATION.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Author-
ity shall make a determination as to whether a State 
substantially provides for the rights and responsibil-
ities described in subsection (b). In making such de-
terminations, the Authority shall consider the opin-
ion of affected employers and labor organizations. 
Where the Authority is notified by an employer and 
an affected labor organization that both parties 
agree that the law applicable to such employer and 
labor organization substantially provides for the 
rights and responsibilities described in subsection 
(b), the Authority shall give such agreement weight 
to the maximum extent practicable in making its de-
termination under this subsection. 
(2) SUBSEQUENT
DETERMINATIONS.—(A) A 
determination made pursuant to paragraph (1) shall 
remain in effect unless and until the Authority 
issues a subsequent determination, in accordance 
with the procedures set forth in subparagraph (B). 
(B) An employer or a labor organization may 
submit a written request for a subsequent deter-
mination, on the basis of a material change in State 
law or its interpretation. If the Authority determines 
that a material change in State law or its interpreta-