[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 419 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.419

                     One Hundred Fifteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
          the third day of January, two thousand and seventeen


                                 An Act


 
 To require adequate reporting on the Public Safety Officers' Benefits 
                    program, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Public Safety Officers' Benefits 
Improvement Act of 2017''.
SEC. 2. REPORTS.
    Section 1205 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796c) is amended--
        (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``Rules, regulations, and 
    procedures issued under this part may include regulations based on 
    standards developed by another Federal agency for programs related 
    to public safety officer death or disability claims.'' before the 
    last sentence;
        (2) in subsection (b)--
            (A) by inserting ``(1)'' before ``In making''; and
            (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2) In making a determination under section 1201, the Bureau 
shall give substantial weight to the evidence and all findings of fact 
presented by a State, local, or Federal administrative or investigative 
agency regarding eligibility for death or disability benefits.
    ``(3) If the head of a State, local, or Federal administrative or 
investigative agency, in consultation with the principal legal officer 
of the agency, provides a certification of facts regarding eligibility 
for death or disability benefits, the Bureau shall adopt the factual 
findings, if the factual findings are supported by substantial 
evidence.''; and
        (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e)(1)(A) Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of 
this subsection, the Bureau shall make available on the public website 
of the Bureau information on all death, disability, and educational 
assistance claims submitted under this part that are pending as of the 
date on which the information is made available.
    ``(B) Not less frequently than once per week, the Bureau shall make 
available on the public website of the Bureau updated information with 
respect to all death, disability, and educational assistance claims 
submitted under this part that are pending as of the date on which the 
information is made available.
    ``(C) The information made available under this paragraph shall 
include--
        ``(i) for each pending claim--
            ``(I) the date on which the claim was submitted to the 
        Bureau;
            ``(II) the State of residence of the claimant;
            ``(III) an anonymized, identifying claim number; and
            ``(IV) the nature of the claim; and
        ``(ii) the total number of pending claims that were submitted 
    to the Bureau more than 1 year before the date on which the 
    information is made available.
    ``(2) Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 
subsection, the Bureau shall publish on the public website of the 
Bureau a report, and shall update such report on such website not less 
than once every 180 days thereafter, containing--
        ``(A) the total number of claims for which a final 
    determination has been made during the 180-day period preceding the 
    report;
        ``(B) the amount of time required to process each claim for 
    which a final determination has been made during the 180-day period 
    preceding the report;
        ``(C) as of the last day of the 180-day period preceding the 
    report, the total number of claims submitted to the Bureau on or 
    before that date for which a final determination has not been made;
        ``(D) as of the last day of the 180-day period preceding the 
    report, the total number of claims submitted to the Bureau on or 
    before the date that is 1 year before that date for which a final 
    determination has not been made;
        ``(E) for each claim described in subparagraph (D), a detailed 
    description of the basis for delay;
        ``(F) as of the last day of the 180-day period preceding the 
    report, the total number of claims submitted to the Bureau on or 
    before that date relating to exposure due to the September 11th, 
    2001, terrorism attacks for which a final determination has not 
    been made;
        ``(G) as of the last day of the 180-day period preceding the 
    report, the total number of claims submitted to the Bureau on or 
    before the date that is 1 year before that date relating to 
    exposure due to the September 11th, 2001, terrorism attacks for 
    which a final determination has not been made;
        ``(H) for each claim described in subparagraph (G), a detailed 
    description of the basis for delay;
        ``(I) the total number of claims submitted to the Bureau 
    relating to exposure due to the September 11th, 2001, terrorism 
    attacks for which a final determination was made during the 180-day 
    period preceding the report, and the average award amount for any 
    such claims that were approved;
        ``(J) the result of each claim for which a final determination 
    was made during the 180-day period preceding the report, including 
    the number of claims rejected and the basis for any denial of 
    benefits;
        ``(K) the number of final determinations which were appealed 
    during the 180-day period preceding the report, regardless of when 
    the final determination was first made;
        ``(L) the average number of claims processed per reviewer of 
    the Bureau during the 180-day period preceding the report;
        ``(M) for any claim submitted to the Bureau that required the 
    submission of additional information from a public agency, and for 
    which the public agency completed providing all of the required 
    information during the 180-day period preceding the report, the 
    average length of the period beginning on the date the public 
    agency was contacted by the Bureau and ending on the date on which 
    the public agency submitted all required information to the Bureau;
        ``(N) for any claim submitted to the Bureau for which the 
    Bureau issued a subpoena to a public agency during the 180-day 
    period preceding the report in order to obtain information or 
    documentation necessary to determine the claim, the name of the 
    public agency, the date on which the subpoena was issued, and the 
    dates on which the public agency was contacted by the Bureau before 
    the issuance of the subpoena; and
        ``(O) information on the compliance of the Bureau with the 
    obligation to offset award amounts under section 1201(f)(3), 
    including--
            ``(i) the number of claims that are eligible for 
        compensation under both this part and the September 11th Victim 
        Compensation Fund of 2001 (49 U.S.C. 40101 note; Public Law 
        107-42) (commonly referred to as the `VCF');
            ``(ii) for each claim described in clause (i) for which 
        compensation has been paid under the VCF, the amount of 
        compensation paid under the VCF;
            ``(iii) the number of claims described in clause (i) for 
        which the Bureau has made a final determination; and
            ``(iv) the number of claims described in clause (i) for 
        which the Bureau has not made a final determination.
    ``(3) Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this 
subsection, and 2 years thereafter, the Comptroller General of the 
United States shall--
        ``(A) conduct a study on the compliance of the Bureau with the 
    obligation to offset award amounts under section 1201(f)(3); and
        ``(B) submit to Congress a report on the study conducted under 
    subparagraph (A) that includes an assessment of whether the Bureau 
    has provided the information required under subparagraph (B)(ix) of 
    paragraph (2) of this subsection in each report required under that 
    paragraph.
    ``(4) In this subsection, the term `nature of the claim' means 
whether the claim is a claim for--
        ``(A) benefits under this subpart with respect to the death of 
    a public safety officer;
        ``(B) benefits under this subpart with respect to the 
    disability of a public safety officer; or
        ``(C) education assistance under subpart 2.''.
SEC. 3. AGE LIMITATION FOR CHILDREN.
    Section 1212(c) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796d-1(c)) is amended--
        (1) by striking ``No child'' and inserting the following:
        ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), no child''; and
        (2) by adding at the end the following:
        ``(2) Delayed approvals.--
            ``(A) Educational assistance application.--If a claim for 
        assistance under this subpart is approved more than 1 year 
        after the date on which the application for such assistance is 
        filed with the Attorney General, the age limitation under this 
        subsection shall be extended by the length of the period--
                ``(i) beginning on the day after the date that is 1 
            year after the date on which the application is filed; and
                ``(ii) ending on the date on which the application is 
            approved.
            ``(B) Claim for benefits for death or permanent and total 
        disability.--In addition to an extension under subparagraph 
        (A), if any, for an application for assistance under this 
        subpart that relates to a claim for benefits under subpart 1 
        that was approved more than 1 year after the date on which the 
        claim was filed with the Attorney General, the age limitation 
        under this subsection shall be extended by the length of the 
        period--
                ``(i) beginning on the day after the date that is 1 
            year after the date on which the claim for benefits is 
            submitted; and
                ``(ii) ending on the date on which the claim for 
            benefits is approved.''.
SEC. 4. DUE DILIGENCE IN PAYING BENEFIT CLAIMS.
    Subpart 1 of part L of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 
Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
``SEC. 1206. DUE DILIGENCE IN PAYING BENEFIT CLAIMS.
    ``(a) In General.--The Bureau, with all due diligence, shall 
expeditiously attempt to obtain the information and documentation 
necessary to adjudicate a benefit claim filed under this part, 
including a claim for financial assistance under subpart 2.
    ``(b) Sufficient Information Unavailable.--If a benefit claim filed 
under this part, including a claim for financial assistance under 
subpart 2, is unable to be adjudicated by the Bureau because of a lack 
of information or documentation from a third party, such as a public 
agency, and such information is not readily available to the claimant, 
the Bureau may not abandon the benefit claim unless the Bureau has 
utilized the investigative tools available to the Bureau to obtain the 
necessary information or documentation, including subpoenas.''.
SEC. 5. PRESUMPTION THAT OFFICER ACTED PROPERLY.
    Section 1202 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796a) is amended--
        (1) by striking ``No benefit'' and inserting the following:
    ``(a) In General.--No benefit''; and
        (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Presumption.--In determining whether a benefit is payable 
under this part, the Bureau--
        ``(1) shall presume that none of the limitations described in 
    subsection (a) apply; and
        ``(2) shall not determine that a limitation described in 
    subsection (a) applies, absent clear and convincing evidence.''.
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.
    The amendments made by this Act shall--
        (1) take effect on the date of enactment of this Act; and
        (2) apply to any benefit claim or application under part L of 
    title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 
    (42 U.S.C. 3796 et seq.) that is--
            (A) pending before the Bureau of Justice Assistance on the 
        date of enactment; or
            (B) received by the Bureau on or after the date of 
        enactment of this Act.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.