The bill replaces the United States Park Police pay schedule in the District of Columbia Police and Firemen’s Salary Act of 1958 with a condensed, 13-step salary table and adjusts the intervals between service steps. It also amends the statute governing service-step adjustments, disregards certain prior pay adjustments through a cut-off date, and preserves existing pay protections in a separate provision.
This matters for payroll administrators, budget officers at the National Park Service and Department of the Interior, and Park Police personnel: compressed steps accelerate officers’ movement to higher pay points, the top-of-scale pay is explicitly tied to the Executive Schedule, and the statute resets how earlier adjustments count — all of which change near-term costs, long-term projections, and parity discussions with other federal law enforcement pay systems.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill substitutes a new 13-step salary schedule for United States Park Police ranks, specifies the timing between steps (an initial 52-week step then mostly 104-week intervals), and sets numeric pay rates for ranks from Private through Chief. It also amends statutory language about how service steps are counted, disregards specified prior adjustments, and includes pay caps for several classes tied to Executive Schedule level V percentages.
Who It Affects
Directly affects members of the United States Park Police across rank-and-file and supervisory ranks, National Park Service payroll and HR teams, the Department of the Interior budget office, and entities responsible for administering the D.C. Police and Firemen’s Salary Act. Indirectly affects congressional appropriations for DOI and stakeholders tracking federal law enforcement pay parity.
Why It Matters
By accelerating step progression and fixing top pay relative to the Executive Schedule, the bill alters recruitment and retention economics for the Park Police and creates a predictable ceiling for senior pay. It also creates an administrative reset (disregarding prior adjustments) that could change baseline pay calculations and require immediate payroll and budget adjustments.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
The bill rewrites the statutory pay table that governs United States Park Police compensation. Instead of the prior schedule, it establishes a single 13-step structure that covers entry-level positions through the Chief, with specific dollar figures printed in the statute for each step and rank.
The table is organized so an officer starts at Step 1 and reaches the final step after a series of scheduled increases that span up to 22 years of service.
Timing between steps is not uniform: the first step increase occurs after 52 weeks, and subsequent step-to-step moves are generally spaced at 104-week intervals. That sequencing compresses promotion-like pay movement early in a career and then spreads later steps over multi-year periods.
The statute also contains separate notes that cap certain classes’ rates at 95 percent of Executive Schedule level V, make other senior classes equal to that level, and thereby anchor top-of-scale pay to the broader federal executive pay structure.Beyond the new table, the bill amends the section of the D.C. Police and Firemen’s Salary Act that governs how service steps are adjusted.
The technical edits expand the numerical categories referenced in that provision and delete an obsolete subparagraph, a change that affects how prior service or step credits may be recognized. The bill further declares that any adjustments made to Park Police pay on or before January 12, 2025, are to be disregarded for purposes of the replaced schedule, effectively resetting the baseline from that date forward.The package includes an explicit non-impairment clause preserving other pay protections and an implementation hook stating the schedule and amendments take effect the first day of the first pay period beginning on or after the date of enactment.
Practically, agencies will need to update payroll rules, recalculate step placements for current employees under the new timeline, and reconcile any pay actions taken before the January 12, 2025 cutoff with the disregarded-adjustments rule.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The statute-level pay table now lists 13 discrete steps spanning from initial hire (Step 1) to a terminal step reached at 22 years of service (Step 13).
The first step increase is scheduled after 52 weeks of service; most subsequent increases occur at 104-week intervals.
Several supervisory and senior classes are explicitly capped: Salary Classes 5, 7, 8, and 9 are limited to 95% of Executive Schedule level V; Salary Class 10 is set equal to 95% of level V; Salary Class 11 equals level V.
The bill directs that any Park Police pay adjustments made on or before January 12, 2025, must be disregarded when applying the new schedule.
The new schedule and statutory edits take effect on the first day of the first pay period beginning on or after enactment, requiring immediate payroll implementation timing.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Short title
Declares the Act’s short title as the 'U.S. Park Police Modernization Act.' This is purely stylistic but confirms how the statute should be cited in other documents and implementing guidance.
Replaces Park Police salary schedule with a consolidated 13-step table
Substitutes a new text for section 501(c)(1) of the D.C. Police and Firemen’s Salary Act, inserting a printed salary table that assigns dollar amounts at Steps 1–13 for rank-specific classes (Private, Private Technician, Private Pilot, Detective, Sergeant variants, Lieutenant, Captain, Inspector/Major, Deputy Chief, Assistant Chief, Chief). The table contains two timing groupings: the early steps (Steps 1–7) with a first step after 52 weeks and several 104-week intervals, and later steps (Steps 8–13) reaching a terminal step at year 22. The provision also labels which salary classes have pay caps tied to Executive Schedule level V and which classes equal that level, creating a statutory link to executive pay that disciplines senior pay levels.
Technical changes to service-step adjustment rules
Edits section 1 303(a)(5) of the D.C. statute by altering the numerals referenced in subparagraphs (B) and (C) and removing subparagraph (D). Functionally, these changes expand the range of step categories referenced for service-step adjustments (adding steps 10 and 11 references and extending another reference to 12) and eliminate an older clause. For pay administrators this changes how prior service or step credits are recognized when computing an individual’s placement on the new table; expect agencies to consult the revised cross-references when applying crediting or transfer rules.
Disregards prior adjustments through a cutoff date
Mandates that any adjustments to Park Police annual basic compensation made under the identified statutory subsection on or before January 12, 2025, are to be disregarded. That creates a single temporal reset: pay actions or statutory tweaks implemented before that date do not carry forward into calculations under the new schedule. Practically, this may require reversing or recharacterizing prior step placements, and agencies will need to document how they reconciled any previously granted increases.
Non-impairment and effective date
Includes a rule of construction clarifying the section does not limit or reduce payments under a separate pay-protection clause in the D.C. statute, preserving any benefits that fall under that subsection. The section then sets the effective date as the first day of the first pay period beginning on or after enactment, forcing payroll shops to implement the new schedule as soon as practicable after the law takes effect and to determine step placements as of that pay-period start date.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on Employment across all five countries.
Explore Employment in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Rank-and-file United States Park Police officers: Faster movement to higher pay points early in their careers (first step at 52 weeks, then compressed intervals) will increase earnings sooner for many officers and may improve retention for mid-career staff.
- Technical and pilot specialists within the Park Police: The statute preserves distinct pay lines for 'Technician' and 'Pilot' variants of the Private class with higher listed rates, benefiting staff in those specialties.
- National Park Service recruiting and retention efforts: A clearer, faster-advancing pay schedule can be marketed in recruiting and may reduce turnover costs over time.
- Senior leadership seeking predictable ceilings: Tying senior classes to Executive Schedule level V percentages provides a fixed anchor for top-of-scale pay and reduces uncertainty about future adjustments.
Who Bears the Cost
- Department of the Interior and National Park Service budgets: Accelerated step progression and higher statutory pay points increase baseline payroll obligations and may require additional appropriations or reallocation within DOI budgets.
- Payroll and HR administrators: Implementing the new statutory table, applying the disregarded-adjustments rule, and reconciling prior pay actions create administrative workload, potential system changes, and litigation risk if employees dispute placements.
- Congressional appropriators and taxpayers: The statutory pay increases and compressed timeline raise anticipated out-year personnel costs that Congress must offset through budget actions, increasing pressure on appropriations.
- Other federal law enforcement agencies and unions: The change may create pressure to respond in parity negotiations or lead to comparability claims, imposing indirect costs on agencies that previously relied on relative pay differentials.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is between strengthening recruitment and retention by accelerating pay progression (a labor-market fix) and the fiscal and parity costs that follow: faster pay increases help personnel but raise immediate budgetary demands, administrative burden, and comparability pressures with other federal law enforcement pay systems.
The bill compresses pay movement in a way that helps officers reach higher pay points sooner, but it does not create a funding mechanism; agencies will have to absorb or seek appropriations for the higher baseline costs. That creates a short-term fiscal shock for DOI payrolls and a long-term upward trajectory in salary obligations.
The instruction to disregard prior adjustments through January 12, 2025, simplifies the transition to a single baseline but will create administrative complexity and potential disputes where employees received step credit or pay actions tied to the old schedule.
Linking certain classes to a percentage of Executive Schedule level V standardizes senior pay, but it also anchors Park Police pay to an executive pay structure that fluctuates with broader federal pay policy. This could limit agency flexibility to address market-driven adjustments or create parity tensions with other federal law enforcement pay systems.
Implementing the change requires careful payroll programming, clear guidance to employees and unions about step placement, and possibly reconciliation for any retroactive pay determinations — all areas where ambiguity in statutory cross-references and deleted subparagraphs could invite litigation or administrative appeals.
Try it yourself.
Ask a question in plain English, or pick a topic below. Results in seconds.