106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 39

AN ACT

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

2 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.

Sec. 6. Definitions.

Sec. 7. Authorization of appropriations.

Sec. 8. Conforming repeal.

Sec. 9. Consultation requirement.

3 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF MEDAL OF VALOR.

4 The President may award, and present in the name

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

6 ribbons and appurtenances, to a public safety officer who

7 is cited by the Attorney General, upon the recommenda8 tion of the Medal of Valor Review Board, for extraordinary

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

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

11 a public safety officer.

12 SEC. 3. MEDAL OF VALOR REVIEW BOARD.

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

14 established a Medal of Valor Review Board (hereafter in

15 this Act referred to as the ‘‘Board’’), which shall be com16 posed of 11 members appointed in accordance with sub17 section (b), and shall conduct its business in accordance

18 with this Act.

19 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—

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

21 shall be individuals with knowledge or expertise,
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1 whether by experience or training, in the field of

2 public safety, of which—

3 (A) two shall be appointed by the Majority

4 Leader of the Senate;

5 (B) two shall be appointed by the Minority

6 Leader of the Senate;

7 (C) two shall be appointed by the Speaker

8 of the House of Representatives;

9 (D) two shall be appointed by the Minority

10 Leader of the House of Representatives; and

11 (E) three shall be appointed by the Presi12 dent, including one with experience in fire13 fighting, one with experience in law enforce14 ment, and one with experience in emergency

15 services.

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

17 be 4 years.

18 (3) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the member19 ship of the Board shall not affect the powers of the

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

21 original appointment.

22 (4) OPERATION OF THE BOARD.—

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

24 the call of the Chairman, who shall be elected

25 by the Board, and shall meet not less than
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1 twice each year. The initial meeting of the

2 Board shall be conducted not later than 90

3 days after the appointment of the last member

4 of the Board.

5 (B) VOTING AND RULES.—A majority of

6 the members shall constitute a quorum to con7 duct business, but the Board may establish a

8 lesser quorum for conducting hearings sched9 uled by the Board. The Board may establish by

10 majority vote any other rules for the conduct of

11 the Board’s business, if such rules are not in12 consistent with this Act or other applicable law.

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

14 recipients of the Medal of Valor from among applications

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

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

17 the name or names of persons it recommends as Medal

18 of Valor recipients. In a given year, the Board is not re19 quired to select any recipients, but is limited to a max20 imum number of 10 recipients. The Attorney General may

21 in extraordinary cases increase the number of recipients

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

23 for fulfilling its duties under this Act.

24 (d) HEARINGS.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Board may hold such

2 hearings, sit and act at such times and places, ad3 minister such oaths, take such testimony, and re4 ceive such evidence as the Board considers advisable

5 to carry out its duties.

6 (2) WITNESS EXPENSES.—Witnesses requested

7 to appear before the Board may be paid the same

8 fees as are paid to witnesses under section 1821 of

9 title 28, United States Code. The per diem and mile10 age allowances for witnesses shall be paid from

11 funds appropriated to the Board.

12 (e) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The

13 Board may secure directly from any Federal department

14 or agency such information as the Board considers nec15 essary to carry out its duties. Upon the request of the

16 Board, the head of such department or agency may fur17 nish such information to the Board.

18 (f) INFORMATION TO BE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL.—

19 The Board shall not disclose any information which may

20 compromise an ongoing law enforcement investigation or

21 is otherwise required by law to be kept confidential.

22 SEC. 4. BOARD PERSONNEL MATTERS.

23 (a) COMPENSATION OF BOARD MEMBERS.—

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

25 paragraph (2), each member of the Board shall be
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1 compensated at a rate equal to the daily equivalent

2 of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level

3 IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of

4 title 5, United States Code, for each day (including

5 travel time) during which such member is engaged

6 in the performance of the duties of the Board.

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

8 who serve as officers or employees of the United

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

10 without compensation in addition to that received for

11 those services.

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

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

14 of subsistence, at rates authorized for employees of agen15 cies under subchapter 1 of chapter 57 of title 5, United

16 States Code, while away from their homes or regular

17 places of business in the performance of service for the

18 Board.

19 SEC. 5. NATIONAL MEDAL OFFICE.

20 There is established within the Department of Justice

21 a national medal office. The office shall generally support

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

23 establish criteria and procedures for the submission of rec24 ommendations of nominees for the Medal of Valor.
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1 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

2 For purposes of this Act—

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

4 person serving a public agency, with or without com5 pensation, as a firefighter, law enforcement officer

6 (including a corrections or court officer or a civil de7 fense officer), or emergency services officer, as de8 fined by the Attorney General in implementing this

9 Act; and

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

11 States of the United States, the District of Colum12 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin

13 Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common14 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

15 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

16 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Attor17 ney General such sums as may be necessary to carry out

18 this Act.

19 SEC. 8. CONFORMING REPEAL.

20 Section 15 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Con21 trol Act of 1974 is repealed.

22 SEC. 9. CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT.

23 The Attorney General shall consult with the Institute

24 of Heraldry within the Department of Defense regarding

25 the design and artistry of the Medal of Valor. The Attor26 ney General shall also consider suggestions received by the
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1 Department of Justice regarding the design of the medal,

2 including those made by persons not employed by the De3 partment.

Passed the Senate May 14 (legislative day, May 18),

1999.

Attest:

Secretary.
106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 39

AN ACT

To provide a national medal for public safety offibeyond the call of duty, and for other purposes. cers who act with extraordinary valor above and