[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 174 (Tuesday, November 25, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16052-S16053]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HOMETOWN HEROES SURVIVORS BENEFITS ACT OF 2003

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask the Chair lay before the Senate a 
message from the House of Representatives on the bill 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.
  The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message 
from the House of Representatives:

                                 S. 459

       Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 459) entitled 
     ``An Act 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'', do pass with the 
     following amendment:
       Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

     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, that officer shall be presumed to have died 
     as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury 
     sustained in the line of duty, if--
       ``(1) that officer, while on duty--
       ``(A) engaged in a situation, and such engagement involved 
     nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical law enforcement, 
     fire suppression, rescue, hazardous material response, 
     emergency medical services, prison security, disaster relief, 
     or other emergency response activity; or
       ``(B) participated in a training exercise, and such 
     participation involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous 
     physical activity;
       ``(2) that officer died as a result of a heart attack or 
     stroke suffered--
       ``(A) while engaging or participating as described under 
     paragraph (1);
       ``(B) while still on that duty after so engaging or 
     participating; or
       ``(C) not later than 24 hours after so engaging or 
     participating; and
       ``(3) such presumption is not overcome by competent medical 
     evidence to the contrary.
       ``(l) For purposes of subsection (k), `nonroutine stressful 
     or strenuous physical' excludes actions of a clerical, 
     administrative, or nonmanual nature.''.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased that the Senate again is 
taking up and passing the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act of 
2003, S. 459. This bill, as amended and passed by unanimous consent in 
the House, will improve the Department of Justice's Public Safety 
Officers Benefits, PSOB, program by allowing survivors of public safety 
officers who suffer fatal heart attacks or strokes while participating 
in nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activities to qualify for 
Federal survivor benefits.
  I want to pay special thanks to Congressman Bob Etheridge, the author 
of the House companion bill, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman 
Sensenbrenner for their leadership and fortitude while negotiating this 
legislation. Without their perseverance and willingness to find 
bipartisan compromise language, passage of this bill in the House would 
not have happened.
  I also commend Congressman Coble, Congressman Bobby Scott, the 
Fraternal Order of Police, FOP, and the Congressional Fire Services 
Institute, CFSI, for working with us on bipartisan compromise language 
so that we could pass the Senate bill through the House. I thank Senate 
Judiciary Chairman Hatch, Senator Lindsey Graham, the lead Republican 
cosponsor of this bill, and Senate leadership for quickly

[[Page S16053]]

passing the Senate bill, as amended by the House, and to send it to the 
President's desk for enactment into law.
  I thank Senators Collins, Jeffords, Sarbanes, Schumer, Durbin, 
Landrieu, Nelson of Florida, Clinton, Snowe, Kohl, Smith, Stabenow, 
Kennedy, Dayton, Miller and Kerry for joining me as cosponsors of this 
multi-partisan legislation.
  Public safety officers are our most brave and dedicated public 
servants. I applaud the efforts of all members of fire, law enforcement 
and EMS providers nationwide who are the first to respond to more than 
1.6 million emergency calls annually--whether those calls involve a 
crime, fire, medical emergency, spill of hazardous materials, natural 
disaster, act of terrorism, or transportation accident--without 
reservation. Those men and women act with an unwavering commitment to 
the safety and protection of their fellow citizens, and forever willing 
to selflessly sacrifice their own lives to provide safe and reliable 
emergency services to their communities.
  Sadly, that kind of dedication can result in tragedy, which we all 
witnessed on September 11th as scores of firefighters, police officers 
and medics raced into the burning World Trade Center and Pentagon with 
no other goal than to save lives. Every year, hundreds of public safety 
officers nationwide lose their lives and thousands more are injured 
while performing duties that subject them to great physical risks. And 
while we know that PSOB benefits can never be a substitute for the loss 
of a loved one, the families of all our fallen heroes deserve to 
collect these funds.
  The PSOB program was established in 1976 to authorize a one-time 
financial payment to the eligible survivors of Federal, State, and 
local public safety officers for all line of duty deaths. In 2001, 
Congress improved the PSOB regulations by streamlining the process for 
families of public safety officers killed or injured in connection with 
prevention, investigation, rescue or recovery efforts related to a 
terrorist attack. We also retroactively increased the total benefits 
available by $100,000 as part of the USA PATRIOT Act. Survivors of 
first responders killed in the line of duty now receive $267,494 in 
PSOB.
  Unfortunately, the issue of covering heart attack and stroke victims 
under PSOB regulations was not addressed at that time.
  Service-connected heart, lung, and hypertension conditions are silent 
killers of public safety officers nationwide. The numerous hidden 
health dangers dealt with by police officers, fire fighters and EMS 
personnel are widely recognized, but officers face these dangers in 
order to serve and protect their fellow citizens.
  The intent of the legislation Senator Graham and I introduced earlier 
this year was to cover officers who suffered a heart attack or stroke 
as a result of nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity. As 
drafted and passed by the Senate by unanimous consent on May 16, 
however, members of the House Judiciary Committee felt the bill's 
language would cover officers who did not engage in any physical 
activity, but merely happened to suffer a heart attack while at work. 
Chairman Sensenbrenner, Congressman Etheridge, Congressman Coble, 
Congressman Scott, FOP, CFSI and I worked out a substitute amendment to 
address those concerns.
  The substitute amendment to S. 459 will create a presumption that an 
officer who died as a direct and proximate result of a heart attack or 
stroke died as a direct and proximate result of a personal injury 
sustained in the line of duty if the following is established:

     that officer participated in a training exercise that 
     involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity 
     or responded to a situation and such participation or 
     response involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical 
     law enforcement, hazardous material response, emergency 
     medical services, prison security, fire suppression, rescue, 
     disaster relief or other emergency response activity; that 
     officer suffered a heart attack or stroke while engaging or 
     within 24 hours of engaging in that physical activity; and 
     such presumption cannot be overcome by competent medical 
     evidence.

  For the purposes of this act, the phrase ``nonroutine stressful or 
strenuous physical'' will exclude actions of a clerical, administrative 
or non-manual nature. Included in the category of ``actions of a 
clerical, administrative or non-manual nature'' are such tasks 
including, but not limited to, the following: sitting at a desk; typing 
on a computer; talking on the telephone; reading or writing paperwork 
or other literature; watching a police or corrections facility's 
monitors of cells or grounds; teaching a class; cleaning or organizing 
an emergency response vehicle; signing in or out a prisoner; driving a 
vehicle on routine patrol; and directing traffic at or participating in 
a local parade.
  Such deaths, while tragic, are not to be considered in the line of 
duty deaths. The families of officers who died of such causes would 
therefore not be eligible to receive PSOB.
  For the purposes of this act, the phrase ``nonroutine stressful or 
strenuous physical'' actions will include, but are not limited to, the 
following: involvement in a physical struggle with a suspected or 
convicted criminal; performing a search and rescue mission; performing 
or assisting with emergency medical treatment; performing or assisting 
with fire suppression; involvement in a situation that requires either 
a high speed response or pursuit on foot or in a vehicle; participation 
in hazardous material response; responding to a riot that broke out at 
a public event; and physically engaging in the arrest or apprehension 
of a suspected criminal.
  The situations listed above are the types of heart attack and stroke 
cases that are considered to be in the line of duty. The families of 
officers who died in such cases are eligible to receive PSOB.
  The changes to PSOB law and regulations brought about by the Hometown 
Heroes Survivors Benefits Act will take effect as soon as the President 
signs the legislation into law. As a result, the survivors of public 
safety officers who suffer heart attacks or strokes while performing 
nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical actions on or after the date 
the President signs this bill will be eligible to apply for PSOB.
  Heart attacks and strokes are a reality of the high-pressure jobs of 
police officers, firefighters and medics. These are killers that first 
responders contend with in their jobs, just like speeding bullets and 
burning buildings. They put their lives on the line for us, and we owe 
their families our gratitude, our respect and our help. No amount of 
money can fill the void that is left by these losses, but ending this 
disparity can help these families keep food on the table and shelter 
over their heads.
  I thank the Senate for taking up and passing the Hometown Heroes 
Survivors Benefits Act, S. 459, as amended and passed by the House, and 
showing its support and appreciation for these extraordinarily brave 
and heroic public safety officers.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate concur in the 
House amendment and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table 
with no intevening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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