[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 459 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 26, 2003

Mr. Leahy (for himself, Mr. Graham of South Carolina, Ms. Collins, Mr. 
  Jeffords, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. 
    Nelson of Florida, Mrs. Clinton, and Ms. Snowe) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
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.

    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 ``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 suffered 
while on duty, or not later than 24 hours after participating in a 
training exercise or responding to an emergency situation, that officer 
shall be presumed to have died as the direct and proximate result of a 
personal injury sustained in the line of duty.''.

SEC. 3. APPLICABILITY.

    Section 1201(k) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 
of 1968, as added by section 2, shall apply to deaths occurring on or 
after January 1, 2003.
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