Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2022
Bill: H.R.6943 | Sponsor: Rep. Trone, David J. (D-MD)
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

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.

[117th Congress Public Law 172]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                      PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER SUPPORT

                               ACT OF 2022

[[Page 136 STAT. 2098]]

Public Law 117-172
117th Congress

                                 An Act


 
   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. <<NOTE: Aug. 16, 2022 -  [H.R. 6943]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: Public Safety 
Officer Support Act of 2022.>> 
SECTION 1. <<NOTE: 34 USC 10101 note.>>  SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Safety Officer Support Act of 
2022''.
SEC. 2. <<NOTE: 34 USC 10281 note.>>  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.), but not one of 
        them for the more than 240 public safety officers who died by 
        suicide that year.

[[Page 136 STAT. 2099]]

            (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.
SEC. 3. PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER DEATH BENEFITS FOR POST-TRAUMATIC 
                    STRESS DISORDER, ACUTE STRESS DISORDER, OR 
                    TRAUMA AND STRESS RELATED DISORDERS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1201 of title I 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) Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Acute Stress Disorder, or 
Trauma and Stress Related Disorders.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this section:
                    ``(A) Mass casualty event.--The term `mass casualty 
                event' means an incident resulting in casualties to not 
                fewer than 3 victims, including--
                          ``(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 
                      and timely surge of injured individuals 
                      necessitating emergency services.
                    ``(B) Mass fatality event.--The term `mass fatality 
                event' means an incident resulting in the fatalities of 
                not fewer than 3 individuals at 1 or more locations 
                close to one another with a common cause.
                    ``(C) Mass shooting.--The term `mass shooting' means 
                a multiple homicide incident in which not fewer than 3 
                victims are killed--
                          ``(i) with a firearm;
                          ``(ii) during one event; and
                          ``(iii) in one or more locations in close 
                      proximity.
                    ``(D) Exposed.--The term `exposed' includes--
                          ``(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' 
                means, in the case of a public safety officer exposed to 
                an event, an event that is--
                          ``(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) <<NOTE: Determination.>>  Personal injury sustained in 
        line of duty.--As determined by the Bureau--

[[Page 136 STAT. 2100]]

                    ``(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) <<NOTE: Determination.>>  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, while on 
                duty, to one or more traumatic events was a substantial 
                factor in the action taken by the officer; or
                    ``(B) <<NOTE: Time period.>>  took an action within 
                45 days of the end of exposure, while on duty, 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) <<NOTE: Effective dates. 34 USC 10281 note.>>  Retroactive 
Applicability.--

[[Page 136 STAT. 2101]]

            (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.
SEC. 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 (34 U.S.C. 10225) is amended--
            (1) in the first sentence--
                    (A) by striking ``The'' and all that follows through 
                ``Assistance'' and inserting ``The Assistant Attorney 
                General, the Bureau of Justice Assistance'';
                    (B) by striking ``by the Attorney General'';
                    (C) by striking ``Code)'' and inserting ``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)'';
                    (D) by striking ``such hearing examiners or 
                administrative law judges'' and inserting ``or 
                administrative law judges''; and
                    (E) by striking ``necessary to carry out their 
                respective powers and duties under this title'' and 
                inserting the following: ``necessary or convenient to 
                assist them in carrying out their respective powers and 
                duties under any law administered by or under the 
                Office''; and
            (2) in the second sentence--
                    (A) by striking ``The'' and all that follows through 
                ``Assistance'' and inserting ``The Assistant Attorney 
                General, the Bureau of Justice Assistance'';
                    (B) by striking ``or any'' and inserting ``, or 
                (subject to such limitations as the appointing authority 
                may, in its sole discretion, impose from time to time) 
                any'';
                    (C) by inserting a comma after ``thereby''; and
                    (D) by striking ``examinations and'' and inserting 
                ``examinations, and''.

    (b) Definitions.--Section 1204 of title I of the Omnibus Crime 
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10284) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (11), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (12)(B), strike the period at the end and 
        insert a semicolon; and
            (3) in paragraph (14), by redesignating the second 
        subparagraph (F) as subparagraph (G).
SEC. 5. GAO REPORT.

    Not <<NOTE: Recommenda- tions.>>  later than 1 year after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall submit

[[Page 136 STAT. 2102]]

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), as added by section 3, and 
includes any recommendations to improve that subsection.

    Approved August 16, 2022.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 6943:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 117-335 (Comm. on the Judiciary).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 168 (2022):
            May 18, considered and passed House.
            Aug. 1, considered and passed Senate.

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