In This Issue

Legislation

Stakeholder Activity

The months of March and April were dominated by two projects: 1) NCISS's "Hit the Hill" event, and 2) drafting and submission of NCISS's comments on the NLRB "Ambush" rule.

Legislation

S 1737/HR 1010

- Minimum Wage Fairness Act, Harkin (D-La). S 1737 was introduced on 11/19/13 and placed on the Senate Legislative calendar (bypassing committee).

The bill would provide for an increase in the federal minimum wage progressively from $8.20/hr for the first 6 months, $9.15/hr six months later, then $10.10/hr the following year.

Many NCISS member security companies would be harmed by an increased minimum wage requirement, and would be forced to curtail the number of jobs offered.

HR.1755/S. 815

- Employment Non Discrimination Act of 2013 (ENDA), Sen. Merkley (D-WV) S. 815 passed the Senate and is under consideration in the House, where it was referred to five separate committees.

This legislation would ban employers from firing, refusing to hire or discriminating against workers or job applicants based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

ENDA would make it increasingly difficult and expensive to terminate problem employees, offering them another path for vexatious litigation.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) -- The "Ambush" Rule

On March 11, 2014, the NLRB proposed new regulations that would radically change the process for union representation elections, effectively shortening election time frames and limiting employees' opportunity to hear from employers before making a crucial workplace decision. The shorter the election, the less time employers and employees have to communicate about the impact of unionization or about a specific union attempting to organize the workplace.

The proposed rule is based on a false premise, violates employer speech rights, and denies employees the ability to make an informed decision about representation.

S. 2025

"The Data Broker Accountability and Transparency Act," by Sen. Rockefeller (D-WV).

S. 2025 contains a prohibition of "pretexting" by data brokers, prohibiting "obtaining or solicitation to obtain personal information by false pretenses." While it is unclear if the definition of data broker would extend to PIs, prohibiting the use of pretexting by PIs would deprive them of a valuable and necessary tool.

Using false pretenses to acquire information for illegal purposes is already itself illegal. PIs use a variety of "benign" pretexts to gather information or identify individuals for numerous legitimate reasons, including identifying "deadbeat" parents, locating debtors, finding defense witnesses, investigating fraud, locating hidden assets and ill-gotten gains, etc.

Congress must insure that private investigators are not swept into the definition of data brokers, and should include a specific statutory exemption.

HR 1312/S 639

"The Geological Privacy and Surveillance Act," by Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). The legislation would require consent of the subject when using of GPS technology for tracking individuals.

NCISS opposes the legislation. The use of the devices for surveillance significantly reduces accident risk during lawful surveillance.

HR 645

"Equal Employment for All Act," by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN.) Would prohibit current or prospective employers from using a consumer credit report for either employment purposes or for taking adverse employment actions.

Stakeholder Activity

Hit the Hill

In the run-up to NCISS's "Hit the Hill" (HTH) in early April, Lobbyit focused on: 1) securing a room for the luncheon; 2) securing a Member of Congress to speak at the luncheon; 3) preparing the necessary "legislative alerts" for NCISS members (separate documents for private investigators and security services) to assist in their scheduling of Congressional office visits; and 4) composition of the materials to be handed-out at these Hill meetings.

On April 7-8, some 40+ NCISS members went to Washington, D.C. to barnstorm Capitol Hill. We began HTH with a reception on April 7, wherein we enjoyed presentations on how (and how not) to lobby Congressional offices.

The next morning (April 8) began with a legislative presentation by our DC representatives at Lobbyit, where we covered the subject matter we'd be discussing on the Hill that day. Following our breakfast prep, we split up to conduct dozens of meetings with Congressional offices and numerous Members of Congress (House and Senate).

Private investigators stressed the importance of access to data, and discussed: S. 2025, "The Data Broker Accountability and Transparency Act," by Sen. Rockefeller (D-WV); HR 1312/S. 639, "The Geological Privacy and Surveillance Act," by Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR); HR 645, "Equal Employment for All Act," by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN.), among other issues.

Security providers focused primarily on a range of labor and employment issues, including: S 1737/HR 1010 -- Minimum Wage Fairness Act, introduced by Sen. Harkin (D-LA) and Cong. Miller (D-Ca); HR.1755/S. 815 - Employment Non Discrimination Act of 2013 (ENDA), Sen. Merkley (D-WV) and Cong. Polis (D-Co02); and the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) proposed "Ambush" Rule.

Mid-day. attending NCISS members enjoyed a lovely luncheon in 2203 Rayburn, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's hearing room. During the luncheon, we had the pleasure of hearing remarks by the Chair of the Congressional Victim's Rights Caucus, Congressman Ted Poe (R-Tx02), who spoke eloquently regarding his leadership in combating human trafficking in America. Congressman Poe then engaged in a lively question-and-answer session with NCISS members.

We thank Congressman Poe for his time and commend him for his efforts to stop child exploitation.

After a long day knocking on doors and pressing our issues in the Capitol, we concluded a highly-successful HTH visit with an evening debrief with our friends from Lobbyit.
Offices visited include:

Senator Boxer, Barbara (D-CA)

Senator Burr, Richard (R-NC)

Senator Dianne, Feinstein (D-CA)

Senator Durbin, Richard (D-Il)

Senator Graham, Lindsey (R-SC)

Senator Hagan, Kay (D-NC)

Senator Kirk, Mark (R-Il)

Senator Scott, Tim (R-SC)

Senator Shelby, Richard (R-Al)

Senator Vitter, David (R-LA)

Cong. Bass, Karen (D-Ca37)

Cong. Becerra, Xavier (D-Ca34)

Cong. Bera, Ami (D-Ca07)

Cong. Brownley, Julia (D-Ca26)

Cong. Byrne, Bradley (R-Al01)
Cong Scalise. Steve (R-La01)
Cong. Coble, Howard (R-NC06),
Cong. Fox, Virginia (R-NC05)
Cong. Jones, Walter (R-NC03)
Cong. Elmers, Renee (R-NC02)
Cong. Price, David (D-NC04)
Cong. Butterfield, G.K. (D-NC01)
Cong. Holding, George (R-NC13)
Cong. Meadows, Mark (R-NC11)
Cong. Hudson, Richard (NC-08)
Cong. Sanford, Mark (R-SC01)
Cong. Mulvaney, Mick (R-SC05)
Cong. Duncan, Jeff (R-SC03)
Cong. Wilson, Joe (R-SC02)
Cong. Gowdy, Trey (R-SC04)
Cong. Rice, Tom (R-SC07)
Cong. Clyburn, Jim (D-SC06)
Cong. Duckworth, Tammy (D-Il08)
Cong. Kinzinger, Adam (R-Il16)
Cong. Hultgren, Randy (R-Il14)
Cong. Roskam, Peter (R-Il 06)
Cong. Schneider, Brad (D-Il10)
Cong. Tiberi, Patrick (R-Oh12)
Cong. Stivers, Steve (R-Oh15)
Cong. Speier, Jackie (D-Ca14)
Cong. Cadenas, Toney (D-Ca 29)
Cong. Tikado, Mark (D-Ca 41)
Cong. Bacerra, Xavier (D-Ca34)
Cong. Hunter, Duncan (R-Ca50)
Cong. David, Susan (D-Ca53)
Cong. Chu, Judy (D-Ca27)
Cong. Roybal-Allard, Lucille (D-Ca40)
Cong. McNerney, Jerry (D-Ca09)
Cong. Rogers, Mike (R-Mi08)
Cong. Aderholt, Robert (R-Al04)

Cong. Calvert, Ken (R-Ca42)

Cong. Campbell, John ( R-Ca45)

Cong. Capps, Lois (D-Ca24)

Cong. C�rdenas, Tony (D-Ca29)

Cong. Chu, Judy (D-Ca27)

Cong. Cook, Paul (R-Ca08)

Cong. Costa, Jim( D-Ca16)

Cong. Denham, Jeff (R-Ca10)

Cong. Eshoo, Anna G. (D-Ca18)

Cong. Farr, Sam (D-Ca20)

Cong. Garamendi, John (D-Ca03)

Cong. Hahn, Janice (D-Ca44)

Cong. Honda, Mike (D-Ca17)

Cong. Huffman, Jared (D-Ca 02)

Cong. Hunter, Duncan D.( R-Ca50)

Cong. Issa, Darrell (R-Ca49)

Cong. LaMalfa, Doug ( R-Ca01)

Cong. Lee, Barbara (D-Ca13)

Cong. Lofgren, Zoe (D-Ca19)

Cong. Lowenthal, Alan (D-Ca47)

Cong. Matsui, Doris O. (D-Ca06)

Cong. McCarthy, Kevin (R-Ca23)

Cong. McClintock, Tom (R-Ca04)

Cong. McKeon, Buck ( R-Ca25)

Cong. McNerney, Jerry (D-Ca09)

Cong. Miller, Gary (R-Ca31)

Cong. Miller, George (D-Ca11)

Cong. Napolitano, Grace (D-Ca32)

Cong. Negrete McLeod, Gloria (D-Ca35)

Cong. Nunes, Devin (R-Ca22)

Cong. Rohrabacher, Dana (R-Ca48)

Cong. Roybal-Allard, Lucille (D-Ca40)

Cong. Royce, Ed (R-Ca39)

Cong. Ruiz, Raul (D-Ca36)

Cong. Sanchez, Linda D 38)

Cong. Sanchez, Loretta (D-Ca46)

Cong. Schiff, Adam (D-Ca28)

Cong. Sherman, Brad (D-Ca30)

Cong. Speier, Jackie (D-Ca14)

Cong. Swalwell, Eric (D-Ca15)

Cong. Takano, Mark (D-Ca41)

Cong. Thompson, Mike (D-Ca05)

Cong. Valadao, David (R-Ca21)

Cong. Vargas, Juan (D-Ca51)

Cong. Waters, Maxine (D-Ca43)

Cong. Waxman, Henry (D-Ca33)

NLRB Ambush Rule

At the same time, Lobbyit drafted NCISS's 12-page comment to the NLRB on their proposed "Ambush" rule, which was submitted to NLRB in early April prior to the closure of the comment period.

State Legislative Tracking

Lobbyit also set up NCISS's "state-level" tracking, identifying over 150 bills in 35 states. To view bills impacting private investigators, private patrol operators, or security guards bills in your state, go to NCISS Advocacy Hub / State Legislation and either search alphabetically by State or click on your state on the United States map provided at the top of the page. If your state is not listed, it means that either your state was either not in session or there were no bills introduced that met our search parameters. If you know of a bill in your state that we need to become aware, please contact one of the following NCISS Legislative Chairs:

Francie Koehler-Investigations -- or -- Maria Landry - Security

Until next month,

Lobbyit.com