I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9180 

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

provide education assistance to public safety officers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 26, 2024 

Ms. CARAVEO (for herself, Mr. LAWLER, and Mr. JAMES) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

Act of 1968 to provide education assistance to public 

safety 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 ‘‘Educational and Ca5 reer Opportunities for Public Safety Act of 2024’’ or the 

6 ‘‘EdCOPS Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER EDUCATION ASSISTANCE 

2 PROGRAM. 

3 Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

4 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) is amended 

5 by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘PART PP—PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER EDUCATION 

7 ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 

8 ‘‘SEC. 3061. PURPOSE. 

9 ‘‘The purpose of this part is to improve recruitment 

10 and retention of public safety officers employed by State, 

11 local, tribal, and regional law enforcement agencies by pro12 viding assistance for the pursuit of a program of higher 

13 education. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 3062. DEFINITIONS. 

15 ‘‘In this part: 

16 ‘‘(1) CHILD.—The term ‘child’ means a nat17 ural, illegitimate, or adopted child or stepchild of an 

18 eligible public safety officer. 

19 ‘‘(2) EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION; PROGRAM OF

20 EDUCATION.—The terms ‘educational institution’ 

21 and ‘program of education’ have the meanings given 

22 the terms in section 1217. 

23 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER.—The 

24 term ‘eligible public safety officer’ means a public 

25 safety officer that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) has served as a public safety officer 

2 for not less than 8 years for a single employer 

3 prior to the date of submission of an applica4 tion under section 3064; and 

5 ‘‘(B) commits to serving as a public safety 

6 officer with the employer described in subpara7 graph (A) during the 4-year period following 

8 the date of submission of an application under 

9 section 3064. 

10 ‘‘(4) PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER.—The term 

11 ‘public safety officer’ has the meaning given the 

12 term in section 1204. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 3063. BASIC ELIGIBILITY. 

14 ‘‘(a) BENEFITS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 

16 provide financial assistance to a person who attends 

17 a program of education and is— 

18 ‘‘(A) an eligible public safety officer; or 

19 ‘‘(B) a child of an eligible public safety of20 ficer to whom an eligible public safety officer 

21 transfers eligibility for financial assistance in 

22 accordance with paragraph (4)(A). 

23 ‘‘(2) FORM AND AMOUNT.—Except as provided 

24 in paragraph (3), financial assistance under this 

25 part shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) consist of direct payments to a person 

2 described in paragraph (1); and 

3 ‘‘(B) be computed on the basis set forth in 

4 section 3532 of title 38, United States Code. 

5 ‘‘(3) REDUCTION.—The financial assistance re6 ferred to in paragraph (2) shall be reduced by the 

7 amount, if any, determined under section 3065(b). 

8 ‘‘(4) TRANSFER OF ASSISTANCE.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible public 

10 safety officer may elect to transfer eligibility for 

11 part or all of the financial assistance for which 

12 the eligible public safety officer is eligible under 

13 this part to an individual described in para14 graph (1)(B). 

15 ‘‘(B) APPROVAL.—An eligible public safety 

16 officer shall approve the receipt of financial as17 sistance under this part by a person who is not 

18 the eligible public safety officer. 

19 ‘‘(b) DURATION OF BENEFITS.—The Attorney Gen20 eral may not provide financial assistance under this part 

21 to a person for a period in excess of 45 months of full22 time education or training or a proportional period of time 

23 for a part-time program. 

24 ‘‘(c) AGE LIMITATION FOR CHILDREN.—The Attor25 ney General may not provide financial assistance under 


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1 this part to a child of an eligible public safety officer after 

2 the date of the 27th birthday of the child. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 3064. APPLICATIONS; APPROVAL. 

4 ‘‘(a) APPLICATION.—A person seeking assistance 

5 under this part shall submit to the Attorney General an 

6 application in such form and containing such information 

7 as the Attorney General reasonably may require. 

8 ‘‘(b) APPROVAL.—The Attorney General shall ap9 prove an application for assistance under this part unless 

10 the Attorney General finds that— 

11 ‘‘(1) the person is not eligible for, is no longer 

12 eligible for, or is not entitled to the assistance for 

13 which application is made; 

14 ‘‘(2) the person’s selected educational institu15 tion fails to meet a requirement established in a reg16 ulation implementing this part for eligibility; 

17 ‘‘(3) the person’s enrollment in or pursuit of 

18 the educational program selected would fail to meet 

19 the criteria in a regulation implementing this part 

20 for programs; or 

21 ‘‘(4) the person already is qualified by previous 

22 education or training for the educational, profes23 sional, or vocational objective for which the edu24 cational program is offered. 


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1 ‘‘(c) NOTIFICATION.—The Attorney General shall no2 tify a person applying for assistance under this part of 

3 approval or disapproval of the application in writing. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 3065. REGULATIONS. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may pro6 mulgate reasonable and necessary regulations to imple7 ment this part. 

8 ‘‘(b) SLIDING SCALE.—Notwithstanding section 

9 3064(b), the Attorney General shall issue regulations re10 garding the use of a sliding scale based on financial need 

11 to ensure that a person eligible to receive financial assist12 ance under this part who is in financial need receives pri13 ority in receiving funds under this part. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 3066. DISCONTINUATION FOR UNSATISFACTORY CON15 DUCT OR PROGRESS. 

16 ‘‘The Attorney General may discontinue assistance 

17 under this part to a person if the Attorney General finds 

18 that, according to the regularly prescribed standards and 

19 practices of an educational institution attended by the per20 son, the person fails to maintain satisfactory progress as 

21 described in section 484(c) of the Higher Education Act 

22 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1091(c)). 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 3067. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this part such sums as may be necessary.’’. 

Æ 


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