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[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6943 Engrossed in House (EH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6943

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

 
  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
 authorize public safety officer death benefits to officers suffering 
 from post-traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Safety Officer Support Act of 
2022''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Every day, public safety officers, including police 
        officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and 
        others, work to maintain the safety, health, and well-being of 
        the communities they serve.
            (2) This means public safety officers are routinely called 
        to respond to stressful and potentially traumatic situations, 
        often putting their own lives in danger.
            (3) This work not only puts public safety officers at-risk 
        for experiencing harm, serious injury, and cumulative and acute 
        trauma, but also places them at up to 25.6 times higher risk 
        for developing post-traumatic stress disorder when compared to 
        individuals without such experiences.
            (4) Psychological evidence indicates that law enforcement 
        officers experience significant job-related stressors and 
        exposures that may confer increased risk for mental health 
        morbidities (such as post-traumatic stress disorder and 
        suicidal thoughts, ideation, intents, and behaviors) and 
        hastened mortality.
            (5) Public safety officers often do not have the resources 
        or support they need, leaving them at higher risk for long-term 
        mental health consequences.
            (6) Whereas, although the Department of Defense already 
        considers servicemember suicides to be line-of-duty deaths and 
        provides Federal support to eligible surviving families, the 
        Federal Government does not recognize public safety officer 
        suicides as deaths in the line of duty.
            (7) In 2017, the Department of Justice approved 481 claims 
        under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program under 
        subpart 1 of part L of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 
        Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281 et seq.), but not one 
        of them for the more than 240 public safety officers who died 
        by suicide that year.
            (8) Public safety officers who have died or are disabled as 
        a result of suicide or post-traumatic stress disorder do not 
        qualify for the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program, 
        despite the fact that public safety officers are more likely to 
        die by suicide than from any other line-of-duty cause of death.

SEC. 3. PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER DEATH BENEFITS FOR POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS 
              DISORDER, ACUTE STRESS DISORDER, OR TRAUMA AND STRESS 
              RELATED DISORDERS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1201 of title I of the Omnibus Crime 
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(o) Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Acute Stress Disorder, or 
Trauma and Stress Related Disorders.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this section:
                    ``(A) Mass casualty event.--The term `mass casualty 
                event' means an incident resulting in casualties to not 
                fewer than 3 victims, including--
                            ``(i) an incident that exceeds the normal 
                        resources for emergency response available in 
                        the jurisdiction where the incident takes 
                        place; and
                            ``(ii) an incident that results in a sudden 
                        and timely surge of injured individuals 
                        necessitating emergency services.
                    ``(B) Mass fatality event.--The term `mass fatality 
                event' means an incident resulting in the fatalities of 
                not fewer than 3 individuals at 1 or more locations 
                close to one another with a common cause.
                    ``(C) Mass shooting.--The term `mass shooting' 
                means a multiple homicide incident in which not fewer 
                than 3 victims are killed--
                            ``(i) with a firearm;
                            ``(ii) during one event; and
                            ``(iii) in one or more locations in close 
                        proximity.
                    ``(D) Exposed.--The term `exposed' includes--
                            ``(i) directly experiencing or witnessing 
                        an event; or
                            ``(ii) being subjected, in an intense way, 
                        to aversive consequences of the event 
                        (including a public safety officer collecting 
                        human remains).
                    ``(E) Traumatic event.--The term `traumatic event' 
                means, in the case of a public safety officer exposed 
                to an event, an event that is--
                            ``(i) a homicide, suicide, or the violent 
                        or gruesome death of another individual 
                        (including such a death resulting from a mass 
                        casualty event, mass fatality event, or mass 
                        shooting);
                            ``(ii) a harrowing circumstance posing an 
                        extraordinary and significant danger or threat 
                        to the life of or of serious bodily harm to any 
                        individual (including such a circumstance as a 
                        mass casualty event, mass fatality event, or 
                        mass shooting); or
                            ``(iii) an act of criminal sexual violence 
                        committed against any individual.
            ``(2) Personal injury sustained in line of duty.--As 
        determined by the Bureau--
                    ``(A) post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress 
                disorder, or trauma and stress related disorders 
                suffered by a public safety officer and diagnosed by a 
                licensed medical or mental health professional, shall 
                be presumed to constitute a personal injury within the 
                meaning of subsection (a), sustained in the line of 
                duty by the officer, if the officer was exposed, while 
                on duty, to one or more traumatic events and such 
                exposure was a substantial factor in the disorder;
                    ``(B) post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress 
                disorder, or trauma and stress related disorders, 
                suffered by a public safety officer who has contacted 
                or attempted to contact the employee assistance program 
                of the agency or entity that the officer serves, a 
                licensed medical or mental health professional, suicide 
                prevention services, or another mental health 
                assistance service in order to receive help, treatment, 
                or diagnosis for post-traumatic stress disorder or 
                acute stress disorder, shall be presumed to constitute 
                a personal injury within the meaning of subsection (a), 
                sustained in the line of duty by the officer, if the 
                officer, was exposed, while on duty, to one or more 
                traumatic events and such exposure was a substantial 
                factor in the disorder; and
                    ``(C) post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress 
                disorder, or trauma and stress related disorders, 
                suffered by a public safety officer who was exposed, 
                while on duty, to one or more traumatic events shall be 
                presumed to constitute a personal injury within the 
                meaning of subsection (a), sustained in the line of 
                duty by the officer if such exposure was a substantial 
                factor in the disorder.
            ``(3) Presumption of death or total disability.--A public 
        safety officer shall be presumed to have died or become 
        permanently and totally disabled (within the meaning of 
        subsection (a) or (b)) as the direct and proximate result of a 
        personal injury sustained in the line of duty, if (as 
        determined by the Bureau) the officer either--
                    ``(A) took an action, which action was intended to 
                bring about the officer's death and directly and 
                proximately resulted in such officer's death or 
                permanent and total disability and exposure, while on 
                duty, to one or more traumatic events was a substantial 
                factor in the action taken by the officer; or
                    ``(B) took an action within 45 days of the end of 
                exposure, while on duty, to a traumatic event, which 
                action was intended to bring about the officer's death 
                and directly and proximately resulted in such officer's 
                death or permanent and total disability, if such action 
                was not inconsistent with a psychiatric disorder.
            ``(4) Applicability of limitations on benefits.--
                    ``(A) Intentional actions.--Section 1202(a)(1) 
                shall not apply to any claim for a benefit under this 
                part that is payable in accordance with this 
                subsection.
                    ``(B) Substance use.--Section 1202(a)(2) shall not 
                preclude the payment of a benefit under this part if 
                the benefit is otherwise payable in accordance with 
                this subsection.''.
    (b) Retroactive Applicability.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
        amendments made by this section shall--
                    (A) take effect on the date of enactment of this 
                Act; and
                    (B) apply to any matter pending, before the Bureau 
                of Justice Assistance or otherwise, on the date of 
                enactment of this Act, or filed (consistent with pre-
                existing effective dates) or accruing after that date.
            (2) Exceptions.--The amendments made by this section shall 
        apply to any action taken by a public safety officer described 
        in paragraph (3) of section 1201(o) of title I of the Omnibus 
        Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (as added by this 
        Act) that occurred on or after January 1, 2019.

SEC. 4. TECHNICAL FIXES.

    (a) Subpoena Power; Employment of Hearing Officers; Authority to 
Hold Hearings.--Section 806 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 
Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10225) is amended--
            (1) in the first sentence--
                    (A) by striking ``The'' and all that follows 
                through ``Assistance'' and inserting ``The Assistant 
                Attorney General, the Bureau of Justice Assistance'';
                    (B) by striking ``by the Attorney General'';
                    (C) by striking ``Code)'' and inserting ``Code 
                (without regard to the days limitation prescribed 
                therein), but shall, in no event, be understood to be 
                (or to have the authority of) officers of the United 
                States)'';
                    (D) by striking ``such hearing examiners or 
                administrative law judges'' and inserting ``or 
                administrative law judges''; and
                    (E) by striking ``necessary to carry out their 
                respective powers and duties under this title'' and 
                inserting the following: ``necessary or convenient to 
                assist them in carrying out their respective powers and 
                duties under any law administered by or under the 
                Office''; and
            (2) in the second sentence--
                    (A) by striking ``The'' and all that follows 
                through ``Assistance'' and inserting ``The Assistant 
                Attorney General, the Bureau of Justice Assistance'';
                    (B) by striking ``or any'' and inserting ``, or 
                (subject to such limitations as the appointing 
                authority may, in its sole discretion, impose from time 
                to time) any'';
                    (C) by inserting a comma after ``thereby''; and
                    (D) by striking ``examinations and'' and inserting 
                ``examinations, and''.
    (b) Definitions.--Section 1204 of title I of the Omnibus Crime 
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10284) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (11), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (12)(B), strike the period at the end and 
        insert a semicolon; and
            (3) in paragraph (14), by redesignating the second 
        subparagraph (F) as subparagraph (G).

SEC. 5. GAO REPORT.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a 
report that details benefits issued pursuant to subsection (o) of 
section 1201 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 
Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281), as added by section 3, and includes any 
recommendations to improve that subsection.

            Passed the House of Representatives May 18, 2022.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.
117th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 6943

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
 authorize public safety officer death benefits to officers suffering 
 from post-traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder, and for 
                            other purposes.
```