I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5060 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2018 

Mr. RUIZ (for himself and Mr. COOK) 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 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 2018’’. 

7 SEC. 2. AMOUNT OF BENEFIT INCREASED. 

8 Section 1201(a) of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

9 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281(a)) is amendVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:34 Feb 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060

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1 ed in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking 

2 ‘‘$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 the 

6 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 

7 U.S.C. 10281(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘with respect to 

8 the date on which the catastrophic injury occurred’’ and 

9 inserting the following: ‘‘with respect to the date that a 

10 determination is made to make such payment’’. 

11 (b) DEATH BENEFIT.—Section 1201(i) of the Omni12 bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 

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

14 of death of such officer’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘as 

15 of the date that a determination is made to make such 

16 payment subsequent to an application’’. 

17 SEC. 4. AMOUNT OF EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE. 

18 Section 1212(a)(2) of the Omnibus Crime Control 

19 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10302(a)(2)) is 

20 amended by striking ‘‘shall be computed on the basis set 

21 forth in section 3532 of title 38, United States Code’’ and 

22 inserting the following: ‘‘shall be computed on the basis 

23 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 on behalf of an eligible person who is pursuing 

11 a program of education consisting of institutional 

12 courses shall be paid at the monthly rate of $2,000 

13 for full-time, $1,600 for three-quarter-time, or 

14 $1,160 for half-time pursuit. 

15 ‘‘(2) LESS THAN HALF-TIME BASIS.—The fi16 nancial assistance on behalf of an eligible person 

17 pursuing a program of education on less than a half18 time basis shall be paid at the rate of the lesser of— 

19 ‘‘(A) the established charges for tuition 

20 and fees that the educational institution in21 volved requires similarly circumstanced non22 eligible persons enrolled in the same program to 

23 pay; or 

24 ‘‘(B) $788 per month for a full-time 

25 course. 


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

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

3 program of education which consists of institutional 

4 courses and alternate phases of training in a business or 

5 industrial establishment with the training in the business 

6 or industrial establishment being strictly supplemental to 

7 the institutional portion, shall be computed at the rate of 

8 $2,000 per month. 

9 ‘‘(c) FARM COOPERATIVE.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible person who is 

11 enrolled in an educational institution for a ‘farm co12 operative’ program consisting of institutional agri13 cultural courses prescheduled to fall within 44 weeks 

14 of any period of 12 consecutive months and who 

15 pursues such program on— 

16 ‘‘(A) a full-time basis (a minimum of 10 

17 clock hours per week or 440 clock hours in such 

18 year prescheduled to provide not less than 80 

19 clock hours in any three-month period); 

20 ‘‘(B) a three-quarter-time basis (a min21 imum of seven clock hours per week); or 

22 ‘‘(C) a half-time basis (a minimum of five 

23 clock hours per week), 

24 shall be eligible to receive financial assistance at the 

25 appropriate rate provided in paragraph (2) of this 


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1 subsection, if such eligible person is concurrently en2 gaged in agricultural employment which is relevant 

3 to such institutional agricultural courses as deter4 mined under standards prescribed by the Attorney 

5 General. In computing the foregoing clock hour re6 quirements there shall be included the time involved 

7 in field trips and individual and group instruction 

8 sponsored and conducted by the educational institu9 tion through a duly authorized instructor of such in10 stitution in which the person is enrolled. 

11 ‘‘(2) MONTHLY AMOUNTS.—The monthly finan12 cial assistance to be paid on behalf of an eligible 

13 person pursuing a farm cooperative program under 

14 this subpart shall be $636 for full-time, $477 for 

15 three-quarter-time, or $319 for half-time pursuit. 

16 ‘‘(d) PROGRAMS IN REPUBLIC OF PHILIPPINES.—If 

17 a program of education is pursued by an eligible person 

18 at an institution located in the Republic of the Philippines, 

19 the financial assistance computed for such person under 

20 this section shall be paid at the rate of $0.50 for each 

21 dollar. 

22 ‘‘(e) LICENSING OR CERTIFICATION.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (3), 

24 the amount of financial assistance payable under 

25 this subpart for a licensing or certification test deVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:34 Feb 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060

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1 scribed in section 3501(a)(5) of title 38, United 

2 States Code, is the lesser of $2,000 or the fee 

3 charged for the test. 

4 ‘‘(2) NUMBER OF MONTHS.—The number of 

5 months of entitlement charged in the case of any in6 dividual for such licensing or certification test is 

7 equal to the number (including any fraction) deter8 mined by dividing the total amount paid to such in9 dividual for such test by the full-time monthly insti10 tutional rate of the financial assistance which, except 

11 for paragraph (1), such individual would otherwise 

12 be paid under this subpart. 

13 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—In no event shall payment 

14 of financial assistance under this subsection for such 

15 a test exceed the amount of the individual’s available 

16 entitlement under this subpart. 

17 ‘‘(f) NATIONAL TESTS FOR ADMISSION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) NATIONAL TEST FOR ADMISSION.—Subject 

19 to paragraph (3), the amount of financial assistance 

20 payable under this subpart for a national test for 

21 admission or national test providing an opportunity 

22 for course credit at institutions of higher learning 

23 described in section 3501(a)(5) of title 38, United 

24 States Code, is the amount of the fee charged for 

25 the test. 


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1 ‘‘(2) NUMBER OF MONTHS.—The number of 

2 months of entitlement charged in the case of any in3 dividual for a test described in paragraph (1) is 

4 equal to the number (including any fraction) deter5 mined by dividing the total amount of financial as6 sistance paid such individual for such test by the 

7 full-time monthly institutional rate of financial as8 sistance, except for paragraph (1), such individual 

9 would otherwise be paid under this subpart. 

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

11 of financial assistance under this subsection for a 

12 test described in paragraph (1) exceed the amount 

13 of the individual’s available entitlement under this 

14 subpart. 

15 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—Terms used in this section have 

16 the meanings given such terms in section 3501 of title 38, 

17 United States Code. 

18 ‘‘(h) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.—Amounts 

19 under this section shall be indexed annually to the college 

20 tuition and fees component of the Consumer Price Index 

21 for All Urban Consumers.’’. 

22 SEC. 6. GAO STUDY. 

23 The Comptroller General of the United States shall 

24 study and identify ways to improve access to and the proc25 essing of claims under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefit 


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1 program (34 U.S.C. §§ 10281–10308). In particular, the 

2 Comptroller General shall examine: 

3 (1) factors that may hinder access to the Public 

4 Safety Officers’ Education Assistance benefit, such 

5 as lack of awareness, delays in the application proc6 ess, or the timely processing of deaths and disability 

7 claims; and 

8 (2) the extent to which eligibility is commu9 nicated to officers upon employment and to eligible 

10 family members following the loss of a covered offi11 cer. 

12 Within 3 years of the date of enactment of this Act, the 

13 Comptroller General shall issue a report, along with any 

14 recommendations, to the Senate Committee on the Judici15 ary; House Judiciary Committee; Senate Committee on 

16 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and House Com17 mittee on Education and the Workforce. 

Æ 


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