II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 39

To provide a national medal for public safety officers who act with

extraordinary valor above and beyond the call of duty, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 19, 1999

Mr. STEVENS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide a national medal for public safety officers who

act with extraordinary valor above and beyond the call

of duty, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be referred to as

5 the ‘‘Public Safety Medal of Valor Act’’.

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for

7 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Authorization of Medal of Valor.

Sec. 3. Medal of Valor Review Board.

Sec. 4. Board personnel matters.

Sec. 5. National medal office.
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Sec. 6. Definitions.

Sec. 7. Authorization of appropriations.

Sec. 8. Conforming repeal.

Sec. 9. Consultation requirement.

1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF MEDAL OF VALOR.

2 The President may award, and present in the name

3 of Congress, a Medal of Valor of appropriate design, with

4 ribbons and appurtenances, to a public safety officer who

5 is cited by the Attorney General, upon the recommenda6 tion of the Medal of Valor Review Board, for extraordinary

7 valor above and beyond the call of duty. The Public Safety

8 Medal of Valor is the highest national award for valor by

9 a public safety officer.

10 SEC. 3. MEDAL OF VALOR REVIEW BOARD.

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF BOARD.—There is hereby

12 established a Medal of Valor Review Board (hereafter in

13 this Act referred to as the ‘‘Board’’), which shall be com14 posed of 11 members appointed in accordance with sub15 section (b), and shall conduct its business in accordance

16 with this Act.

17 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—

18 (1) MEMBERS.—The members of the Board

19 shall be individuals with knowledge or expertise,

20 whether by experience or training, in the field of

21 public safety, of which—

22 (A) two shall be appointed by the Majority

23 Leader of the Senate;
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1 (B) two shall be appointed by the Minority

2 Leader of the Senate;

3 (C) two shall be appointed by the Speaker

4 of the House of Representatives;

5 (D) two shall be appointed by the Minority

6 Leader of the House of Representatives; and

7 (E) three shall be appointed by the Presi8 dent, including one with experience in firefight9 ing, one with experience in law enforcement,

10 and one with experience in emergency services.

11 (2) TERM.—The term of a Board member shall

12 be 4 years.

13 (3) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the member14 ship of the Board shall not affect the powers of the

15 Board and shall be filled in the same manner as the

16 original appointment.

17 (4) OPERATION OF THE BOARD.—

18 (A) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet at

19 the call of the Chairman, who shall be elected

20 by the Board, and shall meet not less than

21 twice each year. The initial meeting of the

22 Board shall be conducted not later than 90

23 days after the appointment of the last member

24 of the Board.
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1 (B) VOTING AND RULES.—A majority of

2 the members shall constitute a quorum to con3 duct business, but the Board may establish a

4 lesser quorum for conducting hearings sched5 uled by the Board. The Board may establish by

6 majority vote any other rules for the conduct of

7 the Board’s business, if such rules are not in8 consistent with this Act or other applicable law.

9 (c) DUTIES.—The Board shall select candidates as

10 recipients of the Medal of Valor from among applications

11 received by the National Medal Office. Not more than once

12 each year, the Board shall present to the Attorney General

13 the name or names of persons it recommends as Medal

14 of Valor recipients. In a given year, the Board is not re15 quired to select any recipients, but is limited to a maxi16 mum number of 10 recipients. The Attorney General may

17 in extraordinary cases increase the number of recipients

18 in a given year. The Board shall set an annual timetable

19 for fulfilling its duties under this Act.

20 (d) HEARINGS.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Board may hold such

22 hearings, sit and act at such times and places, ad23 minister such oaths, take such testimony, and re24 ceive such evidence as the Board considers advisable

25 to carry out its duties.
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1 (2) WITNESS EXPENSES.—Witnesses requested

2 to appear before the Board may be paid the same

3 fees as are paid to witnesses under section 1821 of

4 title 28, United States Code. The per diem and mile5 age allowances for witnesses shall be paid from

6 funds appropriated to the Board.

7 (e) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The

8 Board may secure directly from any Federal department

9 or agency such information as the Board considers nec10 essary to carry out its duties. Upon the request of the

11 Board, the head of such department or agency may fur12 nish such information to the Board.

13 (f) INFORMATION TO BE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL.—

14 The Board shall not disclose any information which may

15 compromise an ongoing law enforcement investigation or

16 is otherwise required by law to be kept confidential.

17 SEC. 4. BOARD PERSONNEL MATTERS.

18 (a) COMPENSATION OF BOARD MEMBERS.—

19 (1) NON-GOVERNMENT.—Except as provided in

20 paragraph (2), each member of the Board shall be

21 compensated at a rate equal to the daily equivalent

22 of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level

23 IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of

24 title 5, United States Code, for each day (including
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1 travel time) during which such member is engaged

2 in the performance of the duties of the Board.

3 (2) GOVERNMENT.—All members of the Board

4 who serve as officers or employees of the United

5 States, a State, or local government, shall serve

6 without compensation in addition to that received for

7 those services.

8 (b) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The members of the Board

9 shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu

10 of subsistence, at rates authorized for employees of agen11 cies under subchapter 1 of chapter 57 of title 5, United

12 States Code, while away from their homes or regular

13 places of business in the performance of service for the

14 Board.

15 SEC. 5. NATIONAL MEDAL OFFICE.

16 There is established within the Department of Justice

17 a national medal office. The office shall generally support

18 the Board and shall, with the concurrence of the Board,

19 establish criteria and procedures for the submission of rec20 ommendations of nominees for the Medal of Valor.

21 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

22 For purposes of this Act—

23 (1) the term ‘‘public safety officer’’ means a

24 person serving a public agency, with or without com25 pensation, as a firefighter, law enforcement officer
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1 (including a corrections or court officer or a civil de2 fense officer), or emergency services officer, as de3 fined by the Attorney General in implementing this

4 Act; and

5 (2) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several

6 States of the United States, the District of Colum7 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin

8 Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common9 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

10 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

11 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Attor12 ney General such sums as may be necessary to carry out

13 this Act.

14 SEC. 8. CONFORMING REPEAL.

15 Section 15 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Con16 trol Act of 1974 is repealed.

17 SEC. 9. CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT.

18 The Attorney General shall consult with the Institute

19 of Heraldry within the Department of Defense regarding

20 the design and artistry of the Medal of Valor. The Attor21 ney General shall also consider suggestions received by the

22 Department of Justice regarding the design of the medal,

23 including those made by persons not employed by the De24 partment.

Æ