II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3397 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2008 

Ms. LANDRIEU introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Finance 

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 2008’’. 


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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)— 

6 (A) by striking ‘‘$250,000’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘$350,000’’; and 

8 (B) by striking ‘‘subsection (h)’’ and in9 serting ‘‘subsection (h)(1)’’; 

10 (2) in subsection (b)— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘permanently and totally’’; 

12 and 

13 (B) by striking ‘‘, to the extent that appro14 priations are provided’’ and all that follows and 

15 inserting ‘‘a benefit in an amount determined in 

16 accordance with subsection (h)(2) to such offi17 cer.’’; and 

18 (3) in subsection (h)— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘the effective date of this 

20 subsection’’ and inserting ‘‘the date of enact21 ment of the First Responders Support Act of 

22 2008’’; 

23 (B) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(h)’’; and 

24 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

25 ‘‘(2)(A) Subject to subsection (b) and subparagraph 

26 (B) of this paragraph, the amount of a benefit paid under 


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1 subsection (b) to a public safety officer who has become 

2 disabled as the direct result of a catastrophic injury sus3 tained in the line of duty shall be in an amount equal to 

4 the benefit that is payable under subsection (a) in the ap5 plicable year multiplied by the level of disability of the 

6 public safety officer, as determined in accordance with 

7 subparagraph (C). 

8 ‘‘(B) No benefit shall be paid under subsection (b) 

9 if the level of disability of the public safety officer is less 

10 than 50 percent. 

11 ‘‘(C) The Director shall adopt and apply a schedule 

12 of levels of disability of public safety officers associated 

13 with specific injuries or combinations of injuries, based 

14 upon the average impairments of earning capacity result15 ing from the injuries concerned.’’. 

16 (b) DEFINITION OF CATASTROPHIC INJURY.—Sec17 tion 1204(1) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

18 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796b(1)) is amended by 

19 striking ‘‘permanently prevent an individual from per20 forming any gainful work’’ and inserting ‘‘substantially di21 minishes the ability of an individual to perform gainful 

22 work’’. 

23 (c) EXPEDITING BENEFITS.—Section 1201 of the 

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


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1 U.S.C. 3796) is amended by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(n) Not later than 3 months after the date on which 

4 a claimant submits all information required for a claim 

5 under this subpart, the Bureau shall determine whether 

6 the claimant is eligible to receive a benefit under this sub7 part.’’. 

8 (d) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 9 months after 

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

10 shall promulgate regulations to carry out the amendments 

11 made by this section. 

12 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

13 are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General, 

14 in addition to any other amounts otherwise authorized to 

15 be appropriated, $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2009 

16 through 2013 to hire employees for the Bureau of Justice 

17 Assistance and obtain the technology and equipment nec18 essary to expedite the processing of claims and make dis19 ability determinations under subpart 1 of part L of the 

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

21 U.S.C. 3796 et seq.), as amended by this section. 

22 SEC. 3. EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1212(a) of the Omnibus 

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

25 3796d–1(a)) is amended— 


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

2 following: 

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

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

5 assistance under this subpart shall— 

6 ‘‘(i) consist of direct payments to an eligible de7 pendent; and 

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

9 than $1,500. 

10 ‘‘(B) The Director shall promulgate regulations to es11 tablish the amount of financial assistance under subpara12 graph (A) for an eligible dependent, which shall be based 

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

14 for the course of study, as determined by the eligible edu15 cational institution, that the eligible dependent is pur16 suing. 

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

18 the date of enactment of the First Responders Support 

19 Act of 2008, the Director shall adjust the level of the ben20 efit payable during that fiscal year under subparagraph 

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

22 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, pub23 lished by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, occurring in the 

24 1-year period ending on June 1 immediately preceding 

25 such October 1.’’; and 


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

2 the eligible dependent would otherwise be entitled to 

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

4 receives’’. 

5 (b) CHILDREN.—Section 1212(a)(1) of the Omnibus 

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

7 3796d–1(a)(1)) is amended— 

8 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

9 the end; 

10 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘a totally 

11 and permanently disabling injury’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘the officer’s catastrophic injury’’; 

13 (3) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as sub14 paragraph (C); and 

15 (4) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(B) the child of the spouse of an officer de18 scribed in subparagraph (A) at the time of the offi19 cer’s death or on the date of the officer’s cata20 strophic injury; or’’. 

21 SEC. 4. CREDIT FOR CONTINUING CARE OF FIRST RE22 SPONDERS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub24 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

25 1986 (relating to refundable credits) is amended by redesVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:12 Aug 04, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3397.IS S3397

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1 ignating section 36 as section 37 and by inserting after 

2 section 35 the following new section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 36. CONTINUING CARE FOR INJURED FIRST RE4 SPONDERS. 

5 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—There shall be al6 lowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle 

7 for the taxable year an amount equal to the qualified med8 ical expenses paid or incurred during such taxable year 

9 by a qualified injured first responder or a family member 

10 of a qualified injured first responder. 

11 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of the credit 

13 allowed under subsection (a) for any taxable year 

14 shall not exceed $7,500. 

15 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION BASED ON ADJUSTED GROSS

16 INCOME.—The amount of the credit allowed by sub17 section (a) (determined without regard to this sub18 section) shall be reduced (but not below zero) by 5 

19 percent of so much of the taxpayer’s adjusted gross 

20 income as exceeds $75,000 ($150,000 in the case of 

21 a joint return). 

22 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

23 ‘‘(1) QUALIFIED INJURED FIRST RESPONDER.— 

24 The term ‘qualified injured first responder’ means 

25 any public safety officer who has suffered an injury 


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1 that substantially diminishes the ability of the public 

2 safety officer to perform gainful work while per3 forming an official duty as a public safety officer. 

4 ‘‘(2) FAMILY MEMBER.—The term ‘family 

5 member’ includes family members described in sec6 tion 267(c)(4). 

7 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED MEDICAL EXPENSES.—The 

8 term ‘qualified medical expenses’ means expenses 

9 paid or incurred, not compensated for by insurance 

10 or otherwise, for medical care (within the meaning 

11 of section 213(d)) in connection with an injury of a 

12 qualified injured first responder which was incurred 

13 while the qualified injured first responder was per14 forming an official duty as a public safety officer. 

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

16 ‘public safety officer’ has the meaning given such 

17 term by section 1204(9) of the Omnibus Crime Con18 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968. 

19 ‘‘(d) NO DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No credit or deduction 

20 shall be allowed under this chapter with respect to any 

21 expenses which are taken into account under this sec22 tion.’’. 

23 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 


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1 (1) Paragraph (2) of section 1324(b) of title 

2 31, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘or 

3 6428’’ and inserting ‘‘, 36, or 6428’’. 

4 (2) The table of sections for subpart C of part 

5 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Rev6 enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking the item 

7 relating to section 36 and inserting the following 

8 new items: 

‘‘Sec. 36. Continuing care for injured first responders. 

‘‘Sec. 37. Overpayments of tax.’’. 

9 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

10 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

11 December 31, 2008. 

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 OmVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:12 Aug 04, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3397.IS S3397

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1 nibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 

2 (42 U.S.C. 3796b); and 

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

4 health services or counseling, means that the organi5 zation providing the services or counseling charges 

6 not more than 50 percent of the amount that the or7 ganization would otherwise charge for the services or 

8 counseling. 

9 (b) AUTHORIZATION TO MAKE GRANTS.—The Direc10 tor may make grants to eligible organizations to provide 

11 mental health services or counseling to public safety offi12 cers seriously injured in the line of duty and the family 

13 members of public safety officers killed or seriously in14 jured in the line of duty. 

15 (c) APPLICATION.—An eligible organization desiring 

16 a grant under this section shall submit an application at 

17 such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such in18 formation as the Director may establish. 

Æ 


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