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“HOMETOWN HEROES SURVIVORS BENEFITS ACT OF 2003” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S16052-S16053 on Nov. 25, 2003.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HOMETOWN HEROES SURVIVORS BENEFITS ACT OF 2003
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask the Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives on the bill S. 459, to ensure that a public safety officer who suffers a fatal heart attack or stroke while on duty shall be presumed to have died in the line of duty for purposes of public safety officer survivor benefits.
The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives:
S. 459
Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 459) entitled
``An Act to ensure that a public safety officer who suffers a fatal heart attack or stroke while on duty shall be presumed to have died in the line of duty for purposes of public safety officer survivor benefits'', do pass with the following amendment:
Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act of 2003''.
SEC. 2. FATAL HEART ATTACK OR STROKE ON DUTY PRESUMED TO BE
DEATH IN LINE OF DUTY FOR PURPOSES OF PUBLIC
SAFETY OFFICER SURVIVOR BENEFITS.
Section 1201 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(k) For purposes of this section, if a public safety officer dies as the direct and proximate result of a heart attack or stroke, that officer shall be presumed to have died as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty, if--
``(1) that officer, while on duty--
``(A) engaged in a situation, and such engagement involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical law enforcement, fire suppression, rescue, hazardous material response, emergency medical services, prison security, disaster relief, or other emergency response activity; or
``(B) participated in a training exercise, and such participation involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity;
``(2) that officer died as a result of a heart attack or stroke suffered--
``(A) while engaging or participating as described under paragraph (1);
``(B) while still on that duty after so engaging or participating; or
``(C) not later than 24 hours after so engaging or participating; and
``(3) such presumption is not overcome by competent medical evidence to the contrary.
``(l) For purposes of subsection (k), `nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical' excludes actions of a clerical, administrative, or nonmanual nature.''.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased that the Senate again is taking up and passing the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act of 2003, S. 459. This bill, as amended and passed by unanimous consent in the House, will improve the Department of Justice's Public Safety Officers Benefits, PSOB, program by allowing survivors of public safety officers who suffer fatal heart attacks or strokes while participating in nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activities to qualify for Federal survivor benefits.
I want to pay special thanks to Congressman Bob Etheridge, the author of the House companion bill, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Sensenbrenner for their leadership and fortitude while negotiating this legislation. Without their perseverance and willingness to find bipartisan compromise language, passage of this bill in the House would not have happened.
I also commend Congressman Coble, Congressman Bobby Scott, the Fraternal Order of Police, FOP, and the Congressional Fire Services Institute, CFSI, for working with us on bipartisan compromise language so that we could pass the Senate bill through the House. I thank Senate Judiciary Chairman Hatch, Senator Lindsey Graham, the lead Republican cosponsor of this bill, and Senate leadership for quickly passing the Senate bill, as amended by the House, and to send it to the President's desk for enactment into law.
I thank Senators Collins, Jeffords, Sarbanes, Schumer, Durbin, Landrieu, Nelson of Florida, Clinton, Snowe, Kohl, Smith, Stabenow, Kennedy, Dayton, Miller and Kerry for joining me as cosponsors of this multi-partisan legislation.
Public safety officers are our most brave and dedicated public servants. I applaud the efforts of all members of fire, law enforcement and EMS providers nationwide who are the first to respond to more than 1.6 million emergency calls annually--whether those calls involve a crime, fire, medical emergency, spill of hazardous materials, natural disaster, act of terrorism, or transportation accident--without reservation. Those men and women act with an unwavering commitment to the safety and protection of their fellow citizens, and forever willing to selflessly sacrifice their own lives to provide safe and reliable emergency services to their communities.
Sadly, that kind of dedication can result in tragedy, which we all witnessed on September 11th as scores of firefighters, police officers and medics raced into the burning World Trade Center and Pentagon with no other goal than to save lives. Every year, hundreds of public safety officers nationwide lose their lives and thousands more are injured while performing duties that subject them to great physical risks. And while we know that PSOB benefits can never be a substitute for the loss of a loved one, the families of all our fallen heroes deserve to collect these funds.
The PSOB program was established in 1976 to authorize a one-time financial payment to the eligible survivors of Federal, State, and local public safety officers for all line of duty deaths. In 2001, Congress improved the PSOB regulations by streamlining the process for families of public safety officers killed or injured in connection with prevention, investigation, rescue or recovery efforts related to a terrorist attack. We also retroactively increased the total benefits available by $100,000 as part of the USA PATRIOT Act. Survivors of first responders killed in the line of duty now receive $267,494 in PSOB.
Unfortunately, the issue of covering heart attack and stroke victims under PSOB regulations was not addressed at that time.
Service-connected heart, lung, and hypertension conditions are silent killers of public safety officers nationwide. The numerous hidden health dangers dealt with by police officers, fire fighters and EMS personnel are widely recognized, but officers face these dangers in order to serve and protect their fellow citizens.
The intent of the legislation Senator Graham and I introduced earlier this year was to cover officers who suffered a heart attack or stroke as a result of nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity. As drafted and passed by the Senate by unanimous consent on May 16, however, members of the House Judiciary Committee felt the bill's language would cover officers who did not engage in any physical activity, but merely happened to suffer a heart attack while at work. Chairman Sensenbrenner, Congressman Etheridge, Congressman Coble, Congressman Scott, FOP, CFSI and I worked out a substitute amendment to address those concerns.
The substitute amendment to S. 459 will create a presumption that an officer who died as a direct and proximate result of a heart attack or stroke died as a direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty if the following is established:
that officer participated in a training exercise that involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity or responded to a situation and such participation or response involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical law enforcement, hazardous material response, emergency medical services, prison security, fire suppression, rescue, disaster relief or other emergency response activity; that officer suffered a heart attack or stroke while engaging or within 24 hours of engaging in that physical activity; and such presumption cannot be overcome by competent medical evidence.
For the purposes of this act, the phrase ``nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical'' will exclude actions of a clerical, administrative or non-manual nature. Included in the category of ``actions of a clerical, administrative or non-manual nature'' are such tasks including, but not limited to, the following: sitting at a desk; typing on a computer; talking on the telephone; reading or writing paperwork or other literature; watching a police or corrections facility's monitors of cells or grounds; teaching a class; cleaning or organizing an emergency response vehicle; signing in or out a prisoner; driving a vehicle on routine patrol; and directing traffic at or participating in a local parade.
Such deaths, while tragic, are not to be considered in the line of duty deaths. The families of officers who died of such causes would therefore not be eligible to receive PSOB.
For the purposes of this act, the phrase ``nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical'' actions will include, but are not limited to, the following: involvement in a physical struggle with a suspected or convicted criminal; performing a search and rescue mission; performing or assisting with emergency medical treatment; performing or assisting with fire suppression; involvement in a situation that requires either a high speed response or pursuit on foot or in a vehicle; participation in hazardous material response; responding to a riot that broke out at a public event; and physically engaging in the arrest or apprehension of a suspected criminal.
The situations listed above are the types of heart attack and stroke cases that are considered to be in the line of duty. The families of officers who died in such cases are eligible to receive PSOB.
The changes to PSOB law and regulations brought about by the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act will take effect as soon as the President signs the legislation into law. As a result, the survivors of public safety officers who suffer heart attacks or strokes while performing nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical actions on or after the date the President signs this bill will be eligible to apply for PSOB.
Heart attacks and strokes are a reality of the high-pressure jobs of police officers, firefighters and medics. These are killers that first responders contend with in their jobs, just like speeding bullets and burning buildings. They put their lives on the line for us, and we owe their families our gratitude, our respect and our help. No amount of money can fill the void that is left by these losses, but ending this disparity can help these families keep food on the table and shelter over their heads.
I thank the Senate for taking up and passing the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act, S. 459, as amended and passed by the House, and showing its support and appreciation for these extraordinarily brave and heroic public safety officers.
Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate concur in the House amendment and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intevening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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