I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2088
To provide for the surviving spouse and dependent children of public safety
officers who are killed in performance of their official duties, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 26, 1997
Mrs. KELLY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To provide for the surviving spouse and dependent children
of public safety officers who are killed in performance
of their official duties, 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 Officers
Memorial Scholarship Act’’.
SEC. 2. SCHOLARSHIPS AUTHORIZED.
(a) IN GENERAL.—
(1) SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS.—The Secretary is
authorized to award a scholarship to—
(A) any eligible applicant who is attending,
or who has been accepted for attendance at,
any eligible institution providing instruction for
one or more of grades kindergarten through 12;
or
(B) any eligible applicant who is enrolled,
or has been accepted for enrollment, in an eligi-
ble institution as a full-time or part-time post-
secondary level student.
(2) APPLICATION.—To receive a scholarship
award under this Act, each eligible applicant shall
submit an application to the Secretary in such time
and manner as may be determined appropriate by
the Secretary, accompanied by a certification from
the head of the agency that employed the public
safety officer to whom the applicant was married (in
the case of a surviving spouse), or with whom the
applicant was living or from whom the applicant was
receiving support contributions (in the case of a de-
pendent child), stating that such officer died as a re-
sult of the performance of the officer’s official du-
ties.
(b) MAXIMUM AWARD.—
(1) ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY AWARDS.—
For any academic year, the maximum amount of a
scholarship award under this section for a kinder-
garten or elementary or secondary school student
may equal, but not exceed, the lesser of the follow-
ing:
(A) The average per pupil expenditure for
elementary and secondary education of the local
educational agency for the geographic area in
which the eligible applicant resides.
(B) The actual cost to the student for at-
tendance at the school, including expenses such
as tuition, fees, books, transportation costs, and
other related expenses determined by the Sec-
retary.
(2) POSTSECONDARY AWARDS.—For any aca-
demic year, the maximum amount of a scholarship
award under this section for a postsecondary student
may equal, but not exceed, the lesser of the follow-
ing:
(A) The average cost of attendance (as de-
fined in section 472 of the Higher Education
Act of 1965), at a State university in the State
in which the student resides, for a State resi-
dent carrying the same academic workload as
the student, with the same number of depend-
ents as the student, and residing in the same
type of housing as the student.
(B) The actual cost of attendance (as de-
fined in section 472 of the Higher Education
Act of 1965) of such student.
(c) AWARD PERIOD.—The duration of each award
under this Act—
(1) for a kindergarten or elementary or second-
ary school student, shall be the period of time nor-
mally required for the completion of a high school
diploma by a student in the grade that the recipient
is in at the time the award commences; and
(2) for a postsecondary student, shall be the
lesser of—
(A) the time actually required by the stu-
dent to complete a course of study and obtain
a diploma; and
(B) 6 years in the case of a student en-
gaged in undergraduate studies and 3 years in
the case of a student engaged in postgraduate
studies.
(d) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall notify the
recipient and the eligible institution of the applicant’s se-
lection for receipt of an award under this Act, the condi-
tions pertaining to award eligibility and continuance.
(e) FISCAL AGENT.—The Secretary shall, if prac-
ticable, use the eligible institution as fiscal agent for pay-
ment of an award.
SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL AWARD REQUIREMENTS.
A student awarded a scholarship grant under this
Act, as a condition for initial receipt of such award and
periodically thereafter as a condition for its continuation,
shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Secretary that
the student is—
(1) maintaining satisfactory progress in the
course of study the student is pursuing—
(A) in the case of a kindergarten or ele-
mentary or secondary school student, as deter-
mined by the Secretary; and
(B) in the case of a postsecondary student,
consistent with section 484(c) of the Higher
Education Act of 1965;
(2) committed to remaining drug-free; and
(3) attending class on a regular basis as to not
interfere with normal course of studies except for ex-
cused absence for vacation, illness, military service
and such other periods deemed good cause by the el-
igible institution or the Secretary.
SEC. 4. AGREEMENTS WITH ELIGIBLE INSTITUTIONS.
For the purposes of this Act, the Secretary is author-
ized to enter into agreements with eligible institutions in
which any student receiving a scholarship award under
this Act has enrolled or has been accepted for enrollment.
Each such agreement shall—
(1) provide that an eligible institution will co-
operate with the Secretary in carrying out the provi-
sions of this Act, including the provision of informa-
tion necessary for a student to satisfy the require-
ments in section 3;
(2) provide that the institution will conduct a
periodic review to determine whether students en-
rolled and receiving scholarship awards continue to
be entitled to payments under this Act and will no-
tify the Secretary of the results of such reviews; and
(3) provide for control and accounting proce-
dures as may be necessary to assure proper dis-
bursements and accounting of funds paid under to
the institution under section 2(e).
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) DEPENDENT CHILD.—The term ‘‘dependent
child’’ means a child who is either living with or re-
ceiving regular support contributions from a public
safety officer at the time of the officer’s death, in-
cluding a stepchild or an adopted child.
(2) ELIGIBLE APPLICANT.—The term ‘‘eligible
applicant’’ means a person residing in a State who
is—
(A) a surviving spouse; or
(B) a dependent child.
(3) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘eligi-
ble institution’’ means a public or private kinder-
garten or elementary or secondary school, or any in-
stitution defined in section 435(a) of the Higher
Education Act of 1965, if the kindergarten, school,
or institution—
(A) is located in a State; and
(B) complies with the antidiscrimination
provisions of section 601 of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964 and does not discriminate on the basis
of race.
(4) PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER.—The term ‘‘pub-
lic safety officer’’ means a person serving a public
agency of a State or of a unit of general local gov-
ernment, with or without compensation, as—
(A) a law enforcement officer, including a
corrections or a court officer engaged in—
(i) apprehending or attempting to ap-
prehend of any person—
(I) for the commission of a crimi-
nal act; or
(II) who at the time was sought
as a material witness in a criminal
proceeding; or
(ii) protecting or guarding a person
held for the commission of a criminal act,
or held as a material witness in connection
with a criminal act; or
(iii) lawfully preventing of, or lawfully
attempting to prevent the commission of, a
criminal act or an apparent criminal act in
the performance of his official duty; or
(B) a firefighter.
(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of Education.
(6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any
State of the United States, the District of Columbia,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory
or possession of the United States.
(7) SURVIVING SPOUSE.—The term ‘‘surviving
spouse’’ means the legally married husband or wife
of a public safety officer at the time of the officer’s
death.
(8) UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—
The term ‘‘unit of general local government’’ means
any city, county, township, town, borough, parish,
village, or any other general purpose subdivision of
a State, or any Indian tribe which the Secretary of
the Interior determines performs law enforcement
functions.
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