I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4111
To provide educational assistance to the dependents of Federal law enforce-
ment officials who are killed or are permanently and totally disabled
in the line of duty.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 18, 1996
Mr. STUDDS (for himself, Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania, Mr. MOAKLEY, Mr.
TORKILDSEN, Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts, Mr. FRANK of Massachu-
setts, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. MARKEY, and Mr.
OLVER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Commit-
tee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To provide educational assistance to the dependents of Fed-
eral law enforcement officials who are killed or are per-
manently and totally disabled in the line of duty.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Law Enforce-
ment Dependents Assistance Act of 1996’’.
SEC. 2. EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO DEPENDENTS OF
SLAIN FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFI-
CERS.
Part L of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and
Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796 et seq.) is
amended by—
(1) inserting after the heading the following:
‘‘Subpart 1—Death Benefits’’; and
(2) adding at the end the following:
‘‘Subpart 2—Educational Assistance to Dependents of
Civilian 
Federal 
Law 
Enforcement 
Officers
Killed or Disabled in the Line of Duty
‘‘SEC. 1211. PURPOSES.
‘‘The purposes of this subpart are—
‘‘(1) to enhance the appeal of service in civilian
Federal law enforcement agencies;
‘‘(2) to extend the benefits of higher education
to qualified and deserving persons who, by virtue of
the death of or total disability of an eligible officer,
may not be able to afford it otherwise; and
‘‘(3) to allow the family members of eligible of-
ficers to attain the vocational and educational status
which they would have attained had a parent or
spouse not been killed or disabled in the line of duty.
‘‘SEC. 1212. BASIC ELIGIBILITY.
‘‘(a) BENEFITS.—(1) The Attorney General shall
provide financial assistance to a dependent who attends
a program of education and is—
‘‘(A) the child of any eligible Federal law en-
forcement officer under subpart 1; or
‘‘(B) the spouse of an officer described in sub-
paragraph (A) at the time of the officer’s death or
on the date of a totally and permanently disabling
injury.
‘‘(2) Financial assistance under this subpart shall
consist of direct payments to an eligible dependent and
shall be computed on the basis set forth in section 3532
of title 38, United States Code.
‘‘(b) DURATION OF BENEFITS.—No dependent shall
receive assistance under this subpart for a period in excess
of forty-five months of full-time education or training or
a proportional period of time for a part-time program.
‘‘(c) AGE
LIMITATION
FOR
DEPENDENT
CHIL-
DREN.—No dependent child shall be eligible for assistance
under this subpart after the child’s 27th birthday absent
a finding by the Attorney General of extraordinary cir-
cumstances precluding the child from pursuing a program
of education.
‘‘SEC. 1213. APPLICATIONS; APPROVAL.
‘‘(a) APPLICATION.—A person seeking assistance
under this subpart shall submit an application to the At-
torney General in such form and containing such informa-
tion as the Attorney General reasonably may require.
‘‘(b) APPROVAL.—The Attorney General shall ap-
prove an application for assistance under this subpart un-
less the Attorney General finds that—
‘‘(1) the dependent is not eligible for, is no
longer eligible for, or is not entitled to the assistance
for which application is made;
‘‘(2) the dependent’s selected educational insti-
tution fails to meet a requirement under this sub-
part for eligibility;
‘‘(3) the dependent’s enrollment in or pursuit of
the educational program selected would fail to meet
the criteria established in this subpart for programs;
or
‘‘(4) the dependent already is qualified by pre-
vious education or training for the educational, pro-
fessional, or vocational objective for which the edu-
cational program is offered.
‘‘(c) NOTIFICATION.—The Attorney General shall no-
tify a dependent applying for assistance under this sub-
part of approval or disapproval of the application in writ-
ing.
‘‘SEC. 1214. REGULATIONS.
The Attorney General may promulgate reasonable
and necessary regulations to implement this subpart.
‘‘SEC. 1215. DISCONTINUATION FOR UNSATISFACTORY CON-
DUCT OR PROGRESS.
‘‘The Attorney General may discontinue assistance
under this subpart when the Attorney General finds that,
according to the regularly prescribed standards and prac-
tices of the educational institution, the recipient fails to
maintain satisfactory progress as described in section
484(c) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1091(c)).
‘‘SEC. 1216. SPECIAL RULE.
‘‘(a) RETROACTIVE ELIGIBILITY.—Notwithstanding
any other provision of law, each dependent of a Federal
law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty on or
after May 1, 1992, shall be eligible for assistance under
this subpart, subject to the other limitations of this sub-
part.
‘‘(b) RETROACTIVE
ASSISTANCE.—The Attorney
General may provide retroactive assistance to dependents
eligible under this section for each month in which the
dependent pursued a program of education at an eligible
educational institution. The Attorney General shall apply
the limitations contained in this subpart to retroactive as-
sistance.
‘‘(c) PROSPECTIVE ASSISTANCE.—The Attorney Gen-
eral may provide prospective assistance to dependents eli-
gible under this section on the same basis as assistance
to dependents otherwise eligible. In applying the limita-
tions on assistance under this subpart, the Attorney Gen-
eral shall include assistance provided retroactively. A de-
pendent eligible under this section may waive retroactive
assistance and apply only for prospective assistance on the
same basis as dependents otherwise eligible.
‘‘SEC. 1217. DEFINITIONS.
‘‘For purposes of this subpart:
‘‘(1) The term ‘Attorney General’ means the
Attorney General of the United States.
‘‘(2) The term ‘Federal law enforcement officer’
has the same meaning as under subpart 1.
‘‘(3) The term ‘program of education’ means
any curriculum or any combination of unit courses
or subjects pursued at an eligible educational insti-
tution, which generally is accepted as necessary to
fulfill requirements for the attainment of a predeter-
mined and identified educational, professional, or vo-
cational objective. It includes coursework for the at-
tainment of more than one objective if in addition to
the previous requirements, all the objectives gen-
erally are recognized as reasonably related to a sin-
gle career field.
‘‘(4) The term ‘eligible educational institution’
means an institution which—
‘‘(A) is described in section 481 of the
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1088), as in effect on the date of the enactment
of this section; and
‘‘(B) is eligible to participate in programs
under title IV of such Act.
‘‘SEC. 1218. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out
this subpart such sums as may be necessary.’’.
Æ