Today, the Crime Subcommittee marked up a bill that if passed into law, would make two important amendments to the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Act, which was signed into law more than 20 years ago.  In support of the Concerns of Police Survivors and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, NAPO met with Congressional leaders on the hill two weeks ago in an effort to stress the need for this legislation.

The bill, which as of today is still awaiting the assignment of a bill number, authorizes the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance to use funds from the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits program “to maintain and enhance national peer support and counseling programs to assist families of public safety officers who have died in the line of duty.”  This amendment would not cost the taxpayer additional dollars, but rather, simply authorizes the Director to spend the funding that it now receives for this vital service.  Currently, the Director can legally only spend $150,000 for the purpose of national peer support and counseling programs to assist surviving families.

The other amendment will address the current backlog of cases left pending by the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Office, by authorizing PSOB funds to hire outside hearing officers.  As stated by Representative Bill McCollum (R-FL), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Crime, under current law the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Office must wait an unreasonably long period of time for the availability of a Justice Department hearing officer to hear the appeal of a family member whose application for a death benefit has been turned down.

In his statement, Chairman McCollum stressed his support for the families of fallen public safety officers, “There is nothing we can do to fully heal the emotional wounds of husbands, wives, children, moms and dads caused by a public safety officer’s death in the line of duty.  It is a crushing blow.  With this legislation, we simply hope to make their pain a little less severe.  Given the sacrifice such officers willingly make in service to their communities, we can do nothing less.”

A member of the Chairman’s staff told NAPO that the Congressman hopes to see the bill go on a fast track, presenting to the full House Judiciary Committee for mark-up next week and perhaps having it passed into law in time for Police Week, May 9-16th.  NAPO thanks Chairman McCollum for his efforts to see this vital bill become law.