I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7568 
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, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 9, 2020 
Mr. TRONE (for himself and Mr. RESCHENTHALER) 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 authorize public safety officer death bene-
fits to officers suffering from post-traumatic stress dis-
order, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Public Safety Officer 
Support Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Every day, public safety officers, including 
police officers, firefighters, emergency medical tech-
nicians, and others, work to maintain the safety, 
health, and well-being of the communities they serve. 
(2) From time to time this means being called 
to respond to stressful and potentially traumatic sit-
uations, sometimes even putting their own lives in 
danger. 
(3) This work not only puts them at risk for ex-
periencing harm, serious injury, and severe trauma, 
but also places them at up to 25.6 times higher risk 
for developing post-traumatic stress disorder when 
compared to those without such experiences. 
(4) Psychological evidence indicates law en-
forcement officers experience significant job-related 
stressors and exposures that may confer increased 
risk for mental health morbidities (for example post- 
traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal thoughts 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 con-
sequences. 
(6) In 2017, the Department of Justice ap-
proved 481 Public Safety Officer Benefit (PSOB) 
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claims, but not one of them for the over 240 public 
safety officers who died by suicide that year. 
(7) As it currently stands, officers who have 
died or are disabled as a result of suicide or post- 
traumatic stress disorder do not qualify for this pro-
gram, despite officers being more likely to die by 
suicide than in the line of duty. 
SEC. 3. PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER DEATH BENEFITS FOR 
POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER. 
Section 1201 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) As determined by the Bureau— 
‘‘(1) post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by 
a public safety officer, and diagnosed by a licensed 
medical or mental health professional, shall be pre-
sumed to constitute a personal injury within the 
meaning of subsection (a), sustained in the line of 
duty by the officer, if the officer, while on duty, en-
gages in situations involving stressful, tensional, or 
traumatic law enforcement, fire suppression, rescue, 
hazardous material response, emergency medical 
services (including responding to opioid overdoses, or 
traumatic psychological or psychiatric distress calls), 
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prison security, disaster relief, or other emergency 
response activity; and 
‘‘(2) in the case that a public safety officer de-
scribed in paragraph (1) dies by suicide (for pur-
poses of a claim under subsection (a)), or is perma-
nently and totally disabled as a result of post-trau-
matic stress disorder, including as a result of at-
tempted suicide (for purposes of a claim under sub-
section (b)), such death or disability shall be pre-
sumed to be a direct and proximate result of such 
engagement, 
unless competent psychological or medical evidence estab-
lishes that the post-traumatic stress disorder was unre-
lated to the engagement or was directly and proximately 
caused by something other than the mere presence of post- 
traumatic stress disorder risk factors. For purposes of 
paragraph (2), a public safety officer shall be considered 
permanently and totally disabled as a result of post-trau-
matic stress disorder if the officer is unable to serve as 
a public safety officer in the same or substantially similar 
role as the officer was serving prior to suffering from post- 
traumatic stress disorder.’’. 
SEC. 4. GAO REPORT. 
On the date that is one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 
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United States shall submit to Congress a report on bene-
fits issued pursuant to subsection (o) of section 1201 of 
the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 
(34 U.S.C. 10281), as added by this Act, and any rec-
ommendations to improve such subsection. 
Æ 
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