[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 789 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 789

  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
       provide death benefits to retired public safety officers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 23, 1999

 Mr. Fossella 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 
       provide death benefits to retired public safety officers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Irwin Rutman Retired Public Safety 
Officers Death Benefits Act''.

SEC. 2. DEATH BENEFITS.

    (a) Payments.--Section 1201 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 
and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by inserting after ``line of duty'' 
        the following: ``or a retired public safety officer has died as 
        the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained 
        while responding to a fire, rescue, or police emergency'';
            (2) in subsection (b), by inserting after ``line of duty'' 
        the following: ``or a retired public safety officer has become 
        permanently and totally disabled as the direct result of a 
        catastrophic injury sustained while responding to a fire, 
        rescue, or police emergency''; and
            (3) in subsections (c), (i), and (j), by inserting after 
        ``public safety officer'' every place it appears the following: 
        ``or a retired public safety officer''.
    (b) Limitations.--Section 1202 of title I of the Omnibus Crime 
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796a) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``the public safety 
        officer or by such officer's intention'' and inserting ``the 
        public safety officer or the retired public safety officer who 
        had the intention'';
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``the public safety 
        officer'' and inserting ``the public safety officer or the 
        retired public safety officer''; and
            (3) in paragraph (3), by inserting ``, or if the retired 
        public safety officer was behaving,'' after ``duties''.
    (c) National Program.--Section 1203 of title I of the Omnibus Crime 
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 2796a-1) is amended by 
inserting before the period ``or retired public safety officers who 
have died while responding to a fire, rescue, or police emergency''.
    (d) Definitions.--Section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Control and 
Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796b) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (6);
            (2) by striking the period and inserting ``; and'' at the 
        end of paragraph (7); and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(8) `retired public safety officer' means a public safety 
        officer, as defined in paragraph (7), who has served a 
        sufficient period of time in such capacity to become vested in 
        the retirement system of a public agency by which the officer 
        was employed and who retired from such agency in good 
        standing.''.
    (e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to deaths or injuries occurring after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
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