IBPO Successfully Lobbies for Quinn Bill Language Changes in Mass. Supplemental Budget
The IBPO legislative team's long hours on Beacon Hill have paid off for Massachusetts IBPO members and for police officers across the state who want the opportunity to participate in the Quinn bill program. Important language changes to the Quinn bill, which were strongly lobbied for by the IBPO, successfully passed the House and Senate in the supplemental budget bill, which now awaits the governor's signature.
"We've obviously been spending a lot of time at the State House to make sure this language passed," said IBPO Legislative Director Ray McGrath. "It's a good win for our members and for all police officers across the Commonwealth, and we want to especially thank House Ways & Means Chairman Charles Murphy and his staff for all their hard work on this issue."
Earlier changes to the Quinn bill required municipal officers to begin accumulating credit hours no later than September 1, 2009, or lose the opportunity altogether. Police officers serving in the military were also at risk of losing the opportunity to get started with their Quinn bill program if they were on active duty during the cutoff period.
"This made no sense to us," said McGrath. "How can you begin accumulating credit hours by September 1, when most college classes haven't even started by then? It also seems unfair to say to officers in the military that they're out of luck if they happen to be on active duty."
The language changes the IBPO successfully lobbied for are:
1. Any current regular full-time member of a municipal police department who has begun to accumulate credit hours as of October 1, 2009 (instead of September 1, 2009) shall be allowed to accumulate the maximum number of credit hours.
2. Any current regular full-time member of a municipal police department on active duty in the armed forces from July 1, 2008 through September 1, 2009, can participate in the Quinn bill program if they start accumulating credit hours no later than 4 months after returning from active duty.
3. Any permanent employee of a municipal police department appointed prior to October 1, 2009 and who is laid off, may participate in the Quinn bill program as long as they begin accumulating credit hours no later than 4 months from the date of their reinstatement.