Bill would hike federal law enforcement officer pay

A House lawmaker has renewed an effort to raise the salaries of federal investigative law enforcement officers.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., a former FBI agent, introduced the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Pay Equity and Reform Act (H.R. 1676), a bill that would lift the cap on overtime for federal law enforcement officers and boost special pay rates for agents in large metropolitan areas, such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.

The bill would also charge the Office of Personnel Management with conducting a study to determine if law enforcement officers should be paid under a system separate from the General Schedule pay system.

"We are working with trying to build support in the House and trying to see if we can't move this through the legislative process this year," said Glenn Kelly, executive director of the FBI Agents Association.

According to Kelly, a 1993 OPM report recommended that law enforcement officers should be compensated under a different system than the General Schedule, but Congress never acted on it and eventually the recommendation was forgotten amid a change in administration and an economic downturn.

Currently, OPM is gathering information about law enforcement duties and salaries as it works with Homeland Security Department officials to develop a personnel system.

Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., chairwoman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Civil Service and Agency Organization, is planning to hold a hearing in July to explore issues uncovered by OPM, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Rogers introduced similar legislation last year, but it never made it out of the House Government Reform Committee.