House panel backs bill to give federal building guards law officer status

Guards at federal buildings would receive full law enforcement officer status under a bill approved by a House Transportation subcommittee Tuesday.

The bill (H.R. 4770) provides Federal Protective Service officers, who guard buildings owned and leased by the General Services Administration, the same pay and benefits as other federal law-enforcement officers.

The service has lost officers at an alarming rate in recent months as guards have moved to higher paying security jobs created by other federal agencies in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said the bill's cosponsor, Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio. There are only 290 officers left in the service, far below the 750 that the legislation says is needed.

Citing the need to raise pay for service guards, LaTourette noted that the starting pay for a Capitol Police officer is as much as $10,000 higher than the starting salary paid by the FPS.

The bill is named "The Ronald C. Sheffield Federal Property Protection Act" for an FPS officer shot and killed by a deranged man last Sept. 21 at a federal building in Detroit.

In addition to providing new authority for uniformed members of the FPS, the legislation would mandate new minimum standards for civilian contract security guards at federal buildings. It would also set new qualification requirements for the FPS commissioner.

Transportation Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, ranking member James Oberstar, D-Minn., LaTourette and Rep. Jerry Costell, D-Ill., are sponsoring the measure, which passed on a voice vote with no amendments.