First Capitol Hill Day is a Success

By Lisa Phillips
Director of Government and External Relations

Left to right: Immediate Past President Steven J. Healy, President-Elect Lisa Sprague, U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, President Raymond H. Thrower, Jr. at Capitol Hill Day on March 13. IACLEA presented Sen. Leahy with its first Congressional Champion Award.

 

The International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) held its first-ever Capitol Hill Day on March 13, 2008, as members of the IACLEA Board of Directors and Government Relations Committee leaders visited the offices of more than 40 individual members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

The day-long event culminated with the presentation by IACLEA President Raymond H. Thrower, Jr., of the first IACLEA Congressional Champion Award to U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont. Leahy received the Award for his steadfast support of campus safety, including his leadership in sponsoring vital campus public safety legislation in Congress during the past year.

“This award represents a profound appreciation for your sponsorship of the first legislation ever at the federal level which recognizes the increasing complexity of campus public safety,” said IACLEA President Raymond H. Thrower, Jr., Director of Safety & Security at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN.

Sen. Leahy, a Democrat, was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1974 and is now serving his sixth term. A former prosecutor, Leahy is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is a senior member of the Senate Agriculture and Appropriations Committees. He is seventh in seniority in the U.S. Senate.

He is a chief sponsor of the School Safety and Law Enforcement Act of 2007, which originated in the Senate Judiciary Committee. This bill, currently being considered in Congress, would enhance safety and security on college and university campuses. It would allow colleges and universities to apply directly to the federal government for funds to make school safety and security improvements. It would provide equity between sworn law enforcement officers at private and public institutions, among other provisions.

The legislation in Congress, Thrower said, builds on IACLEA’s momentum in working with federal agencies to develop initiatives to make campuses safer. These initiatives include an Accreditation program for campus public safety departments, supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), and the development of training programs and emergency preparedness resources under a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Thrower called the Capitol Hill Day a success. “These face to face meetings with Members of Congress are an important part of IACLEA’s expanded Government Relations program,” said Thrower, who is the Director of Safety & Security at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. “With our Government Relations staff member, Lisa Phillips, in place and initiatives such as the Capitol Hill Day, IACLEA is well-positioned to inform the legislative process. We need to ensure the campus public safety perspective is included when legislation is crafted and considered.”

IACLEA Board members met with Members of Congress and Congressional staff from more than 10 states. They called attention to pending legislation that would enhance campus public safety. A House-Senate conference committee is considering the campus public safety legislation.

A number of issues of interest to IACLEA members are pending before Congress. Two pieces of legislation in particular affect the mission and resources of campus public safety administrators: the Safe Schools and Law Enforcement Act (SLEA) and the Higher Education Reauthorization Act (HEA).

Higher Education Act

Sometimes, achieving success in removing objectionable provisions from a bill is as difficult as adding provisions to a bill. IACLEA members participated in negotiations that resulted in several provisions in HEA being struck from the legislation. The provisions that were removed included requirements to report false fire alarms and the addition of four new crimes as part of the Clery Act reporting. The inclusion of a grant program for postsecondary institutions for use in campus public safety programs was retained in both House and Senate versions of the Act.

The House and the Senate are now in a conference to craft the final version of HEA. Still pending are problematical issues, such as a requirement for a 30-minute warning in cases of campus emergencies. IACLEA Board members met with chief attorneys for the House and the Senate as well as more than 40 Members of the House and the Senate to make the case that a 30-minute warning would be an impractical “one-size-fits-all” response to the scattered violence that has marked the past year on campuses throughout the nation. House and Senate conferees were open to discussion and if the 30-minute provision is left in the legislation, at a minimum, the clock will not start until an incident is both reported and confirmed.

Also pending in the HEA is the creation of a National Center for Campus Public Safety. IACLEA Board members spoke of the importance of the Center and found a receptive audience. Procedurally, one Senator could block the creation of a Center and that Senator met with IACLEA President Ray Thrower, Immediate Past President Steven J. Healy, and President-Elect Lisa Sprague to hear of the Association’s strong support for the Center. This Senator pledged that he would not invoke the procedure, called “serial referral,” which frees education conferees to negotiate whether to include the Center in reauthorization based on its own merits.

Safe Schools and Law Enforcement Act

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed this bill and it is pending in Congress. It would also authorize a National Center, but further increases support for campus public safety by providing a $50 million matching grant program for institutions to use for public safety. It also provides death benefit parity for sworn officers at private institutions who are killed in the line of duty, and other non-campus related programs for K through 12 schools and certification of officers who are retired to retain weapons. The bill is being held up because of this last provision but Sen. Leahy has pledged to keep pushing for passage, and a companion bill has been introduced in the House.

IACLEA will continue to closely monitor the campus public safety legislation and communicate its concerns to key members of Congress and staff.

The Board discussed the successful first Capitol Hill day and will be working to make it even more successful and involve more members next year.