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ERIC Number: ED614260
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Mar-11
Pages: 14
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) and Public Safety Officers' Educational Assistance (PSOEA) Programs. CRS Report R45327, Version 9. Updated
Szymendera, Scott D.
Congressional Research Service
The Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program provides cash benefits to federal, state, and local law enforcement officers; firefighters; employees of emergency management agencies; and members of emergency medical services agencies who are killed or permanently and totally disabled as the result of personal injuries sustained in the line of duty. The Public Safety Officers' Educational Assistance (PSOEA) program, a component of the PSOB program, provides higher-education assistance to the children and spouses of public safety officers killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. The PSOB and PSOEA programs are administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). Claimants dissatisfied with denials of benefits may pursue administrative appeals within DOJ and may seek judicial review before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Each year, Congress appropriates funding for PSOB death benefits, which is considered mandatory spending, and for PSOB disability benefits and PSOEA benefits, which is subject to annual appropriations. For FY2021, the one-time lump-sum PSOB death and disability benefit is $370,376 and the PSOEA monthly benefit for a student attending an educational institution full-time is $1,265. In FY2018, the DOJ approved 318 claims for PSOB death benefits, 59 claims for PSOB disability benefits, and 642 claims for PSOEA benefits. Public safety officers who contract Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the line of duty may be eligible for PSOB benefits. The Safeguarding America's First Responders Act (S. 3607, P.L. 116-157) provides a presumption of PSOB eligibility for public safety officers who were on duty between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021, and who were diagnosed with COVID-19 within 45 days of their last day of duty.
Congressional Research Service. Web site: https://crsreports.congress.gov/
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A