Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2022

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. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2022 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. (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. 3. Public safety officer death benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder (a) In general Section 1201 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 ( 34 U.S.C. 10281 (o) Post-traumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder (1) Definitions In this section: (A) Mass casualty event The term mass casualty event (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 temporal surge of injured individuals necessitating emergency services. (B) Mass fatality event The term mass fatality event (C) Mass shooting The term mass shooting (i) with a firearm; (ii) within 1 event; and (iii) in 1 or more locations in close proximity. (D) Exposed The term exposed (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 (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 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 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. 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 is amended by— (1) striking by the Attorney General (2) inserting Assistant Attorney (3) striking Code) 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) (4) striking necessary to carry out necessary or convenient to assist them in carrying out (5) striking or any , or (subject to such limitations as the appointing authority may, in its sole discretion, impose from time to time) any (6) inserting a comma after thereby (7) striking duties under this title duties under any law administered by or under the Office (8) striking such hearing examiners (9) striking examinations and examinations, and (b) Definitions Section 1204 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended— (1) in paragraph (11), by striking ; and ; (2) in paragraph (12)(B), by striking basis. basis; (3) in paragraph (14), by redesignating the second subparagraph (F) as subparagraph (G). 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 May 18, 2022 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

Summary: Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2022 This act extends death and disability benefits under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program to certain public safety officers and survivors of public safety officers who suffer or suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, or trauma and stress-related disorders following an exposure to one or more traumatic events while on duty. The PSOB program provides death, disability, and education benefits to public safety officers and survivors of public safety officers who die or become disabled as a direct and proximate result of a personal injury in the line of duty. The act specifies that post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, or trauma and stress-related disorders suffered by a public safety officer following an exposure to a traumatic event while on duty constitutes a personal injury in the line of duty if exposure to the traumatic event was a substantial factor in the disorder. Further, for the purposes of death and disability benefits, the act creates a presumption that an officer's death or permanent disability was directly caused by a personal injury in the line of duty if the officer took an action intended to bring about his or her death and exposure to a traumatic event was a substantial factor in that action or that action occurred within 45 days of an exposure and was consistent with a psychiatric disorder. Finally, the act requires the Government Accountability Office to report on the details of benefits issued pursuant to this act, including recommendations to improve the PSOB program.