I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4338 

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

provide adequate benefits for public safety officers injured or killed 

in the line of duty, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 16, 2009 

Mr. MELANCON 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 adequate benefits for public safety 

officers injured or killed in the line 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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘First Responders Sup5 port Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXPANDING DISABILITY BENEFITS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1201 of the Omnibus 

3 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

4 3796) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘$250,000’’ 

6 and inserting ‘‘$350,000’’; and 

7 (2) in subsection (h), by striking ‘‘the effective 

8 date of this subsection’’ and inserting ‘‘the date of 

9 enactment of the First Responders Support Act of 

10 2009’’. 

11 (b) EXPEDITING BENEFITS.—Section 1201 of the 

12 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 

13 U.S.C. 3796) is amended by adding at the end the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(n) Not later than 12 months after the date on 

16 which a claimant submits all information required for a 

17 claim under this subpart, the Bureau shall determine 

18 whether the claimant is eligible to receive a benefit under 

19 this subpart.’’. 

20 (c) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 9 months after 

21 the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General 

22 shall promulgate regulations to carry out the amendments 

23 made by this section. 

24 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

25 are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General, 


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1 in addition to any other amounts otherwise authorized to 

2 be appropriated— 

3 (1) $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 

4 through 2015 to hire employees for the Bureau of 

5 Justice Assistance and obtain the technology and 

6 equipment necessary to educate and assist eligible 

7 agencies with the filing and application of claims for 

8 the Public Safety Officer Benefits Programs and to 

9 provide supplemental materials for continuing edu10 cation of claims information and procedure; and 

11 (2) $800,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 

12 through 2015 for the education and assistance to 

13 public safety officers and first responders in jurisdic14 tions located in rural areas and urban areas with a 

15 population of less than 25,000. 

16 SEC. 3. EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS. 

17 Section 1212(a) of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

18 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796d–1(a)) is 

19 amended— 

20 (1) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 

21 following: 

22 ‘‘(2)(A) Except as provided in paragraph (3), and 

23 subject to subparagraph (C) of this paragraph, financial 

24 assistance under this subpart shall— 


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1 ‘‘(i) consist of direct payments to an eligible de2 pendent; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) be paid at the monthly rate of not more 

4 than $1,500. 

5 ‘‘(B) The Director shall promulgate regulations to es6 tablish the amount of financial assistance under subpara7 graph (A) for an eligible dependent, which shall be based 

8 on the portion of the normal full-time academic workload 

9 for the course of study, as determined by the eligible edu10 cational institution, that the eligible dependent is pur11 suing. 

12 ‘‘(C) On October 1 of each fiscal year beginning after 

13 the date of enactment of the First Responders Support 

14 Act of 2009, the Director shall adjust the level of the ben15 efit payable during that fiscal year under subparagraph 

16 (A)(ii), to reflect the annual percentage change in the 

17 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, pub18 lished by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, occurring in the 

19 1-year period ending on June 1 immediately preceding 

20 such October 1.’’; and 

21 (2) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking ‘‘to which 

22 the eligible dependent would otherwise be entitled to 

23 receive’’ and inserting ‘‘that the eligible dependent 

24 receives’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. PRIORITIZATION OF CLAIMS. 

2 Section 1205 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

3 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796c) is amended by add4 ing at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(d)(1) The Bureau shall adopt and apply a system 

6 of prioritization of claims for benefits under this part 

7 based on the severity of the claim and the likelihood of 

8 approval of the claim. 

9 ‘‘(2) For purposes of this subsection, a claim for a 

10 death benefit or 100 percent disability shall be considered 

11 more severe and given priority.’’. 

12 SEC. 5. EXPANDING COUNSELING AND MENTAL HEALTH 

13 SERVICES. 

14 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

15 (1) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 

16 the Bureau of Justice Assistance; 

17 (2) the term ‘‘eligible organization’’ means an 

18 organization that provides free or reduced cost men19 tal health services or counseling to public safety offi20 cers seriously injured in the line of duty and the 

21 family members of public safety officers killed or se22 riously injured in the line of duty; 

23 (3) the term ‘‘public safety officer’’ has the 

24 meaning given that term in section 1204 of the Om25 nibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 

26 (42 U.S.C. 3796b); and 


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1 (4) the term ‘‘reduced cost’’, relating to mental 

2 health services or counseling, means that the organi3 zation providing the services or counseling charges 

4 not more than 50 percent of the amount that the or5 ganization would otherwise charge for the services or 

6 counseling. 

7 (b) AUTHORIZATION TO MAKE GRANTS.—The Direc8 tor may make grants to eligible organizations to provide 

9 mental health services or counseling to public safety offi10 cers seriously injured in the line of duty and the family 

11 members of public safety officers killed or seriously in12 jured in the line of duty. 

13 (c) APPLICATION.—An eligible organization desiring 

14 a grant under this section shall submit an application at 

15 such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such in16 formation as the Director may establish. 

17 SEC. 6. OVERSIGHT OF THE PSOB PROGRAM. 

18 The Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance 

19 shall— 

20 (1) not later than 12 months after the date of 

21 enactment of this Act, structure, design, and imple22 ment a performance measure for the Public Safety 

23 Officers Benefits program to monitor the claims 

24 process and payment of benefits to officers and 

25 beneficiaries; and 


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1 (2) report to Congress annually on the perform2 ance of the program, and its activities, including 

3 technological updates, the status of payments and 

4 claims, and the results of any education and out5 reach activities performed in accordance to this Act. 

Æ 


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