II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 465 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 

make reforms to the benefits for Public Service Officers, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2019 

Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. BOOKER, 

Mr. PETERS, and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

Act of 1968 to make reforms to the benefits for Public 

Service Officers, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Heroes Lesley Zerebny 

5 and Gilbert Vega First Responders Survivors Support Act 

6 of 2019’’. 

7 SEC. 2. AMOUNT OF BENEFIT INCREASED. 

8 Section 1201(a) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Con9 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281(a)) 


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1 is amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by 

2 striking ‘‘$250,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$500,000’’. 

3 SEC. 3. DATE OF DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT OF BEN4 EFIT. 

5 (a) DISABILITY BENEFIT.—Section 1201(b) of title 

6 I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 

7 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘with 

8 respect to the date on which the catastrophic injury oc9 curred’’ and inserting ‘‘with respect to the date that a de10 termination is made to make such payment’’. 

11 (b) DEATH BENEFIT.—Section 1201(i) of title I of 

12 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 

13 (34 U.S.C. 10281(i)) is amended by striking ‘‘as of the 

14 date of death of such officer’’ and inserting ‘‘as of the 

15 date that a determination is made to make such payment 

16 subsequent to an application’’. 

17 SEC. 4. AMOUNT OF EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE. 

18 Section 1212(a)(2) of title I of the Omnibus Crime 

19 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 

20 10302(a)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘shall be computed 

21 on the basis set forth in section 3532 of title 38, United 

22 States Code’’ and inserting ‘‘shall be computed on the 

23 basis set forth in section 1219’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. COMPUTATION OF EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE AL2 LOWANCE. 

3 Subpart 2 of part L of title I of the Omnibus Crime 

4 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10301 

5 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 1219. COMPUTATION OF EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE 

7 ALLOWANCE. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

9 ‘‘(1) MONTHLY RATES.—The financial assist10 ance to be paid on behalf of an eligible person who 

11 is pursuing a program of education consisting of in12 stitutional courses shall be computed at the rate 

13 of— 

14 ‘‘(A) $2,000 per month for full-time pur15 suit; 

16 ‘‘(B) $1,600 per month for three-quarter17 time pursuit; or 

18 ‘‘(C) $1,160 per month for half-time pur19 suit. 

20 ‘‘(2) LESS THAN HALF-TIME BASIS.—The fi21 nancial assistance to be paid on behalf of an eligible 

22 person pursuing a program of education on less than 

23 a half-time basis shall be computed at the rate of 

24 the lesser of— 

25 ‘‘(A) the established charges for tuition 

26 and fees that the eligible educational institution 


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1 involved requires to be paid by similarly 

2 circumstanced noneligible persons enrolled in 

3 the same program; or 

4 ‘‘(B) $2,000 per month for a full-time 

5 course. 

6 ‘‘(b) TRAINING.—The financial assistance to be paid 

7 on behalf of an eligible person who is pursuing a full-time 

8 program of education which consists of institutional 

9 courses and alternate phases of training in a business or 

10 industrial establishment under which the training in the 

11 business or industrial establishment is strictly supple12 mental to the institutional portion, shall be computed at 

13 the rate of $2,000 per month. 

14 ‘‘(c) FARM COOPERATIVE.— 

15 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

16 ‘enrolled in a farm cooperative program’, relating to 

17 an eligible person, means that the eligible person— 

18 ‘‘(A) is enrolled in an eligible educational 

19 institution for a farm cooperative program con20 sisting of institutional agricultural courses 

21 prescheduled to fall within 44 weeks of any pe22 riod of 12 consecutive months; 

23 ‘‘(B) pursues such program on— 

24 ‘‘(i) a full-time basis (consisting of a 

25 minimum of 10 clock hours per week or 


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1 440 clock hours per year prescheduled to 

2 provide not less than 80 clock hours in any 

3 3-month period); 

4 ‘‘(ii) a three-quarter-time basis (con5 sisting of a minimum of 7 clock hours per 

6 week); or 

7 ‘‘(iii) a half-time basis (consisting of a 

8 minimum of 5 clock hours per week); and 

9 ‘‘(C) is concurrently engaged in agricul10 tural employment which is relevant to such in11 stitutional agricultural courses, as determined 

12 under standards prescribed by the Attorney 

13 General. 

14 ‘‘(2) COMPUTATION.—The financial assistance 

15 to be paid on behalf of an eligible person who is en16 rolled in a farm cooperative program shall be com17 puted at the rate of— 

18 ‘‘(A) $636 per month for full-time pursuit; 

19 ‘‘(B) $477 per month for three-quarter20 time pursuit; or 

21 ‘‘(C) $319 per month for half-time pursuit. 

22 ‘‘(3) CALCULATION OF HOURS.—In calculating 

23 the number of clock hours for purposes of paragraph 

24 (1), the Attorney General shall include the time in25 volved in field trips and individual and group inVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:51 Feb 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S465.IS S465

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1 struction sponsored and conducted by the eligible 

2 educational institution through a duly authorized in3 structor of such institution in which the eligible per4 son is enrolled. 

5 ‘‘(d) PROGRAMS IN REPUBLIC OF PHILIPPINES.— 

6 The financial assistance to be paid on behalf of an eligible 

7 person who is enrolled in a program of education at an 

8 eligible educational institution located in the Republic of 

9 the Philippines, shall be computed at the rate of $0.50 

10 for each $1.00 otherwise payable under this subpart. 

11 ‘‘(e) LICENSING OR CERTIFICATION.— 

12 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

13 ‘licensing or certification test’ means a licensing or 

14 certification test described in section 3501(a)(5) of 

15 title 38, United States Code. 

16 ‘‘(2) COMPUTATION.—Subject to paragraph (4), 

17 the amount of financial assistance payable under 

18 this subpart for a licensing or certification test is 

19 the lesser of $2,000 or the fee charged for the li20 censing or certification test. 

21 ‘‘(3) NUMBER OF MONTHS.—The number of 

22 months of entitlement charged in the case of an eli23 gible person for a licensing or certification test is 

24 equal to the quotient (including any fraction) ob25 tained by dividing— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the total amount paid to the eligible 

2 person for the licensing or certification test; by 

3 ‘‘(B) the full-time monthly institutional 

4 rate of the financial assistance which, but for 

5 paragraph (2), the eligible person would other6 wise be paid under this subpart. 

7 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION.—In no event shall payment 

8 of financial assistance under this subsection for a li9 censing or certification test exceed the amount of the 

10 amount to which an eligible individual is entitled 

11 under this subpart. 

12 ‘‘(f) NATIONAL TESTS FOR ADMISSION OR OPPOR13 TUNITY.— 

14 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

15 ‘national test’ means a national test for admission or 

16 national test providing an opportunity for course 

17 credit at institutions of higher learning described in 

18 section 3501(a)(5) of title 38, United States Code. 

19 ‘‘(2) NATIONAL TESTS.—Subject to paragraph 

20 (4), the amount of financial assistance payable 

21 under this subpart for a national test is the amount 

22 of the fee charged for the national test. 

23 ‘‘(3) NUMBER OF MONTHS.—The number of 

24 months of entitlement charged in the case of an eli25 gible person for a national test is equal to the 


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1 quotient (including any fraction) obtained by divid2 ing— 

3 ‘‘(A) the total amount of financial assist4 ance paid to the eligible person for the national 

5 test; by 

6 ‘‘(B) the full-time monthly institutional 

7 rate of financial assistance which, but for para8 graph (2), the eligible person would otherwise 

9 be paid under this subpart. 

10 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION.—In no event shall payment 

11 of financial assistance under this subsection for a 

12 national test exceed the amount of the amount to 

13 which an eligible individual is entitled under this 

14 subpart. 

15 ‘‘(g) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.—Amounts under 

16 this section shall be indexed annually to the college tuition 

17 and fees component of the Consumer Price Index for All 

18 Urban Consumers.’’. 

19 SEC. 6. GAO STUDY. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 

21 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

22 of the United States shall submit a report examining and 

23 identifying ways to improve access to and the processing 

24 of claims under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefit pro25 gram under part L of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 


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1 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281 et seq.) 

2 to— 

3 (1) the Committee on the Judiciary and the 

4 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen5 sions of the Senate; and 

6 (2) the Committee on the Judiciary and the 

7 Committee on Education and Labor of the House of 

8 Representatives. 

9 (b) CONTENTS.—The report submitted under sub10 section (a) shall examine— 

11 (1) factors that may hinder access to the edu12 cation assistance benefit under subpart 2 of part L 

13 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

14 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.), such 

15 as lack of awareness, delays in the application proc16 ess, or the timely processing of deaths and disability 

17 claims; and 

18 (2) the extent to which eligibility for benefits 

19 and assistance under the Public Safety Officers’ 

20 Benefit program under part L of title I of the Omni21 bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 

22 U.S.C. 10281 et seq.) is communicated to officers 

23 upon employment and to eligible family members fol24 lowing the loss of a public safety officer. 

Æ 


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