[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2431 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2431

  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
ensure that chaplains killed in the line of duty receive public safety 
                        officer death benefits.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 1, 2002

 Mr. Leahy (for himself, Mr. Campbell, Mrs. Clinton, and Mr. Schumer) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
ensure that chaplains killed in the line of duty receive public safety 
                        officer death benefits.

    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 ``Mychal Judge Police and Fire 
Chaplains Public Safety Officers' Benefit Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. BENEFITS FOR CHAPLAINS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796b) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (7) as (3) 
        through (8), respectively;
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2) `chaplain' means any individual serving as an 
        officially recognized or designated member of a legally 
        organized volunteer fire department or legally organized police 
        department, or an officially recognized or designated public 
        employee of a legally organized fire or police department who 
        was responding to a fire, rescue, or police emergency;''; and
            (3) in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (8), as redesignated 
        by paragraph (1), by inserting after ``firefighter,'' the 
        following: ``as a chaplain,''.
    (b) Eligible Beneficiaries.--Section 1201(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
3796(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(4) if there is no surviving spouse or surviving child, 
        to the individual designated by such officer as beneficiary 
        under such officer's most recently executed life insurance 
        policy, provided that such individual survived such officer; 
        or''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect on September 11, 2001, and shall apply to injuries or deaths 
that occur in the line of duty on or after such date.
                                 <all>