[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 709 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 709

 To provide that a grantee may not receive the full amount of a block 
 grant under the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant program unless that 
grantee adopts a health standard establishing a legal presumption that 
  heart, lung, and respiratory disease are occupational diseases for 
                        public safety officers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 14, 2001

  Mr. Stupak introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide that a grantee may not receive the full amount of a block 
 grant under the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant program unless that 
grantee adopts a health standard establishing a legal presumption that 
  heart, lung, and respiratory disease are occupational diseases for 
                        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 ``Law Enforcement Officers' Health 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the cumulative stress of a career in law enforcement 
        contributes significantly to the development of heart and lung 
        disease of law enforcement officers, giving rise to a 
        presumption that such stress caused such diseases;
            (2) hearings to determine an officer's entitlement to this 
        presumption usually result in the granting of such presumption;
            (3) such hearings are expensive, create an adversarial 
        relationship between the public employer and employee, and 
        cause delays in receiving critical treatment; and
            (4) the creation of such a presumption as a national health 
        standard will result in more efficient delivery of law 
        enforcement services nationwide.

SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS.

    (a) In General.--An entity that fails to have in effect throughout 
the jurisdiction of that entity the policy described in subsection (b) 
shall not receive 10 percent of the funds that would otherwise be 
allocated to that entity under the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant 
Program of the Department of Justice, as described in appropriations 
Acts.
    (b) Policy Required.--The policy referred to in subsection (a) is a 
policy that, for each public safety officer (as defined in section 1204 
of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
3796b)) employed in the jurisdiction of that entity, the following 
shall apply:
            (1) If that officer was so employed for a period of at 
        least 5 years and, prior to the time of initial employment, 
        passed a physical exam that revealed no evidence of heart, 
        lung, or respiratory disease, there shall be a rebuttable 
        presumption that any heart, lung, or respiratory disease 
        resulting in the death or permanent incapacity of that officer 
        is service connected.
            (2) If any heart, lung, or respiratory disease resulting in 
        the death or permanent incapacity of that officer is service 
        connected, that officer shall be entitled to all benefits, 
        including retirement, disability or workers compensation 
        benefits, provided to other public employees in the 
        jurisdiction of that entity for service-connected heart, lung, 
        or respiratory disease.
    (c) Reallocation.--Any funds that are not allocated for failure to 
comply with this Act shall be reallocated to entities that comply with 
this Act.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The provisions of this Act shall apply to any funds allocated for 
any fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 2003.
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