Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2021
Bill: H.R.3071 | Sponsor: Rep. Trone, David J. (D-MD)
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2021
This bill extends death and disability benefits under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program (PSOB) to certain public safety officers and survivors of public safety officers who are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder following a stressful situation while on duty. The PSOB program provides death, disability, and education benefits to public safety officers and survivors of public safety officers who are killed or injured in the line of duty.

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 
2021''.

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) From time to time this means being called to respond to 
        stressful and potentially traumatic situations, sometimes even 
        putting their own lives in danger.
            (3) This work not only puts them at risk for experiencing 
        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 enforcement 
        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 consequences.
            (6) In 2017, the Department of Justice approved 481 Public 
        Safety Officer Benefit (PSOB) 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 program, 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 AND ACUTE 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 or acute stress 
        disorder 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, while on duty, engages 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), prison 
        security, disaster relief, or other emergency response 
        activity; and
            ``(2) in the case that a public safety officer described in 
        paragraph (1) dies by suicide (for purposes of a claim under 
        subsection (a)), or is permanently and totally disabled as a 
        result of post-traumatic stress disorder or acute stress 
        disorder, including as a result of attempted suicide (for 
        purposes of a claim under subsection (b)), such death or 
        disability shall be presumed to be a direct and proximate 
        result of such engagement,
unless competent psychological or medical evidence establishes that the 
post-traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder was unrelated 
to the engagement or was directly and proximately caused by something 
other than the mere presence of post-traumatic stress disorder or acute 
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-traumatic stress disorder or acute 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 or acute 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 United States shall submit to 
Congress a report on benefits 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 recommendations to 
improve such subsection.
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