[107th Congress Public Law 196]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]


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[DOCID: f:publ196.107]


[[Page 116 STAT. 719]]

Public Law 107-196
107th Congress

                                 An Act


 
   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. <<NOTE: June 24, 2002 -  [S. 2431]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America <<NOTE: Mychal Judge Police and Fire Chaplains 
Public Safety Officers' Benefit Act of 2002.>> in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. <<NOTE: 42 USC 3711 note.>> 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' includes 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''.

[[Page 116 STAT. 719]]

    (c) Effective Date.--The <<NOTE: Applicability. 42 USC 3796 
note.>> 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.

    Approved June 24, 2002.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S. 2431 (H.R. 3297):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 107-384 accompanying H.R. 3297 (Comm. on the 
Judiciary).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 148 (2002):
            May 7, considered and passed Senate.
            June 11, considered and passed House.

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