Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3071 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. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 7, 2021 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 or acute stress disorder, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Safety Officer 4 Support Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3071.IH H3071 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3071 IH (1) Every day, public safety officers, including 1 police officers, firefighters, emergency medical tech- 2 nicians, and others, work to maintain the safety, 3 health, and well-being of the communities they serve. 4 (2) From time to time this means being called 5 to respond to stressful and potentially traumatic sit- 6 uations, sometimes even putting their own lives in 7 danger. 8 (3) This work not only puts them at risk for ex- 9 periencing harm, serious injury, and severe trauma, 10 but also places them at up to 25.6 times higher risk 11 for developing post-traumatic stress disorder when 12 compared to those without such experiences. 13 (4) Psychological evidence indicates law en- 14 forcement officers experience significant job-related 15 stressors and exposures that may confer increased 16 risk for mental health morbidities (for example post- 17 traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal thoughts and 18 behaviors), and hastened mortality. 19 (5) Public safety officers often do not have the 20 resources or support they need, leaving them at 21 higher risk for long-term mental health con- 22 sequences. 23 (6) In 2017, the Department of Justice ap- 24 proved 481 Public Safety Officer Benefit (PSOB) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3071.IH H3071 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3071 IH claims, but not one of them for the over 240 public 1 safety officers who died by suicide that year. 2 (7) As it currently stands, officers who have 3 died or are disabled as a result of suicide or post- 4 traumatic stress disorder do not qualify for this pro- 5 gram, despite officers being more likely to die by 6 suicide than in the line of duty. 7 SEC. 3. PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER DEATH BENEFITS FOR 8 POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AND 9 ACUTE STRESS DISORDER. 10 Section 1201 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 11 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281) is amended by 12 adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(o) As determined by the Bureau— 14 ‘‘(1) post-traumatic stress disorder or acute 15 stress disorder suffered by a public safety officer, 16 and diagnosed by a licensed medical or mental 17 health professional, shall be presumed to constitute 18 a personal injury within the meaning of subsection 19 (a), sustained in the line of duty by the officer, if 20 the officer, while on duty, engages in situations in- 21 volving stressful, tensional, or traumatic law enforce- 22 ment, fire suppression, rescue, hazardous material 23 response, emergency medical services (including re- 24 sponding to opioid overdoses, or traumatic psycho- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3071.IH H3071 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3071 IH logical or psychiatric distress calls), prison security, 1 disaster relief, or other emergency response activity; 2 and 3 ‘‘(2) in the case that a public safety officer de- 4 scribed in paragraph (1) dies by suicide (for pur- 5 poses of a claim under subsection (a)), or is perma- 6 nently and totally disabled as a result of post-trau- 7 matic stress disorder or acute stress disorder, in- 8 cluding as a result of attempted suicide (for pur- 9 poses of a claim under subsection (b)), such death 10 or disability shall be presumed to be a direct and 11 proximate result of such engagement, 12 unless competent psychological or medical evidence estab- 13 lishes that the post-traumatic stress disorder or acute 14 stress disorder was unrelated to the engagement or was 15 directly and proximately caused by something other than 16 the mere presence of post-traumatic stress disorder or 17 acute stress disorder risk factors. For purposes of para- 18 graph (2), a public safety officer shall be considered per- 19 manently and totally disabled as a result of post-traumatic 20 stress disorder or acute stress disorder if the officer is un- 21 able to serve as a public safety officer in the same or sub- 22 stantially similar role as the officer was serving prior to 23 suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or acute 24 stress disorder.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3071.IH H3071 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3071 IH SEC. 4. GAO REPORT. 1 On the date that is one year after the date of the 2 enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 3 United States shall submit to Congress a report on bene- 4 fits issued pursuant to subsection (o) of section 1201 of 5 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 6 (34 U.S.C. 10281), as added by this Act, and any rec- 7 ommendations to improve such subsection. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3071.IH H3071 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS