HR 2936 — Protecting America’s First Responders Act of 2021

The Assistant Attorney General, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the National Institute of Justice, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics may appoint (to be assigned or employed on an interim or as-needed basis) such hearing examiners (who shall, if so designated, be understood to be comprised within the meaning of “special government employee” under section 202 of title 18 (without regard to the days limitation prescribed therein), but shall, in no event, be understood to be (or to have the authority of) officers of the United States) or administrative law judges or request the use of such administrative law judges selected by the Office of Personnel Management pursuant to section 3344 of title 5, as shall be necessary or convenient to assist them in carrying out their respective powers and duties under any law administered by or under the Office. The Assistant Attorney General, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the National Institute of Justice, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics or upon authorization, any member thereof, or (subject to such limitations as the appointing authority may, in its sole discretion, impose from time to time) any hearing examiner or administrative law judge assigned to or employed thereby, shall have the power to hold hearings and issue subpoenas, administer oaths, examine witnesses, conduct examinations, and receive evidence at any place in the United States they respectively may designate.

(a) Amount; recipients In any case in which the Bureau of Justice Assistance (hereinafter in this subchapter referred to as the “Bureau”) determines, under regulations issued pursuant to this subchapter, that a public safety officer has died as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty, a benefit of $250,000, adjusted in accordance with subsection (h), and calculated in accordance with subsection (i), shall be payable by the Bureau, as follows (if the payee indicated is living on the date on which the determination is made)— (1) if there is no child who survived the public safety officer, to the surviving spouse of the public safety officer; (2) if there is at least 1 child who survived the public safety officer and a surviving spouse of the public safety officer, 50 percent to the surviving child (or children, in equal shares) and 50 percent to the surviving spouse; (3) if there is no surviving spouse of the public safety officer, to the surviving child (or children, in equal shares); (4) if there is no surviving spouse of the public safety officer and no surviving child— (A) to the surviving individual (or individuals, in shares per the designation, or, otherwise, in equal shares) designated by the public safety officer to receive benefits under this subsection in the most recently executed designation of beneficiary of the public safety officer on file at the time of death with the public safety agency, organization, or unit; or (B) if there is no individual qualifying under subparagraph (A), to the surviving individual (or individuals, in equal shares) designated by the public safety officer to receive benefits under the most recently executed life insurance policy of the public safety officer on file at the time of death with the public safety agency, organization, or unit; (5) if there is no individual qualifying under paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4), to the surviving parent (or parents, in equal shares) of the public safety officer; or (6) if there is no individual qualifying under paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5), to the surviving individual (or individuals, in equal shares) who would qualify under the definition of the term “child” under section 10284 of this title but for age. (b) Benefits for permanent and total disability In accordance with regulations issued pursuant to this subchapter, in any case in which the Bureau determines that a public safety officer has become permanently and totally disabled as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty, a benefit shall be payable to the public safety officer (if living on the date on which the determination is made) in the same amount that would be payable, as of the date such injury was sustained (including as adjusted in accordance with subsection (h), and calculated in accordance with subsection (i)), if such determination were a determination under subsection (a): Provided, That for the purposes of making these benefit payments, there are authorized to be appropriated for each fiscal year such sums as may be necessary. (c) Interim benefit payment Whenever the Bureau determines upon showing of need and prior to final action that the death of a public safety officer is one with respect to which a benefit will probably be paid, the Bureau may make an interim benefit payment not exceeding $6,000, adjusted in accordance with subsection (h), to the individual entitled to receive a benefit under subsection (a) of this section. (d) Deduction of interim payment The amount of an interim payment under subsection (c) shall be deducted from the amount of any final benefit paid to such individual. (e) Repayment of interim payment; waiver Where there is no final benefit paid, the recipient of any interim payment under subsection (c) shall be liable for repayment of such amount. The Bureau may waive all or part of such repayment, considering for this purpose the hardship which would result from s...

As used in this subchapter— (1) “action outside of jurisdiction” means an action, not in the course of any compensated employment involving either the performance of public safety activity or the provision of security services, by a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew that— (A) was taken in a jurisdiction where— (i) the law enforcement officer or firefighter then was not authorized to act, in the ordinary course, in an official capacity; or (ii) the member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew then was not authorized or licensed to act, in the ordinary course, by law or by the applicable agency or entity; (B) then would have been within the authority and line of duty of— (i) a law enforcement officer or a firefighter to take, who was authorized to act, in the ordinary course, in an official capacity, in the jurisdiction where the action was taken; or (ii) a member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew to take, who was authorized or licensed by law and by a pertinent agency or entity to act, in the ordinary course, in the jurisdiction where the action was taken; and (C) was, in an emergency situation that presented an imminent and significant danger or threat to human life or of serious bodily harm to any individual, taken— (i) by a law enforcement officer— (I) to prevent, halt, or respond to the immediate consequences of a crime (including an incident of juvenile delinquency); or (II) while engaging in a rescue activity or in the provision of emergency medical services; (ii) by a firefighter— (I) while engaging in fire suppression; or (II) while engaging in a rescue activity or in the provision of emergency medical services; or (iii) by a member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew, while engaging in a rescue activity or in the provision of emergency medical services; (2) “candidate officer” means an individual who is enrolled or admitted, as a cadet or trainee, in a formal and officially established program of instruction or of training (such as a police or fire academy) that is specifically intended to result upon completion, in the— (A) commissioning of such individual as a law enforcement officer; (B) conferral upon such individual of official authority to engage in fire suppression (as an officer or employee of a public fire department or as an officially recognized or designated member of a legally organized volunteer fire department); or (C) granting to such individual official authorization or license to engage in a rescue activity, or in the provision of emergency medical services, as a member of a rescue squad, or as a member of an ambulance crew that is (or is a part of) the agency or entity that is sponsoring the individual’s enrollment or admission; (3) “blind” means an individual who has central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens or whose eye is accompanied by a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees; (4) “catastrophic injury” means an injury, the direct and proximate result of which is to permanently render an individual functionally incapable (including through a directly and proximately resulting neurocognitive disorder), based on the state of medicine on the date on which the claim is determined by the Bureau, of performing work, including sedentary work: Provided, That, if it appears that a claimant may be functionally capable of performing work— (A) the Bureau shall disregard work where any compensation provided is de minimis, nominal, honorary, or mere reimbursement of incidental expenses, such as— (i) work that involves ordinary or simple tasks, that because of the claimed disability, the claimant cannot perform without significantly more supervision, accommodation, or assistance than is typically provided to an individual without the claimed disability doing similar work; (ii) work that involves minimal duties that make f...

(a) Rules, regulations, and procedures The Bureau is authorized to establish such rules, regulations, and procedures as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this subchapter. Such rules, regulations, and procedures will be determinative of conflict of laws issues arising under this subchapter. Rules, regulations, and procedures issued under this subchapter may include regulations governing the recognition of agents or other persons representing claimants under this subchapter before the Bureau. Rules, regulations, and procedures issued under this subchapter may include regulations based on standards developed by another Federal agency for programs related to public safety officer death or disability claims. The Bureau may prescribe the maximum fees which may be charged for services performed in connection with any claim under this subchapter before the Bureau, and any agreement in violation of such rules and regulations shall be void. (b) Use of State and local administrative and investigative assistance (1) In making determinations under section 10281 of this title, the Bureau may utilize such administrative and investigative assistance as may be available from State and local agencies. Responsibility for making final determinations shall rest with the Bureau. (2) In making a determination under section 10281 of this title, 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. (c) Use of appropriated funds to conduct appeals Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Bureau is authorized to use appropriated funds to conduct appeals of public safety officers’ death and disability claims. (d) References to provisions outside this subchapter Unless expressly provided otherwise, any reference in this subchapter to any provision of law not in this subchapter shall be understood to constitute a general reference under the doctrine of incorporation by reference, and thus to include any subsequent amendments to the provision. (e) Reports on claims under this subchapter (1) (A) Not later than 30 days after June 2, 2017, the Bureau shall make available on the public website of the Bureau information on all death, disability, and educational assistance claims submitted under this subchapter 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 subchapter 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 June 2, 2017, 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 dete...

(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 subchapter, including a claim for financial assistance under part B. (b) Sufficient information unavailable If a benefit claim filed under this subchapter, including a claim for financial assistance under part B, 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— (1) may use available investigative tools, including subpoenas, to— (A) adjudicate or to expedite the processing of the benefit claim, if the Bureau deems such use to be necessary to adjudicate or conducive to expediting the adjudication of such claim; and (B) obtain information or documentation from third parties, including public agencies, if the Bureau deems such use to be necessary to adjudicate or conducive to expediting the adjudication of a claim; and (2) may not abandon the benefit claim unless the Bureau has used investigative tools, including subpoenas, to obtain the information or documentation deemed necessary to adjudicate such claim by the Bureau under subparagraph (1)(B).

(a) Retroactive eligibility Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a spouse or child of a Federal law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty on or after January 1, 1978,,1 and a spouse or child of a public safety officer killed in the line of duty on or after January 1, 1978, shall be eligible for assistance under this part, subject to the other limitations of this part. (b) Retroactive assistance The Attorney General shall (unless prospective assistance has been provided) provide retroactive assistance to a person eligible under this section for each month in which the person pursued a program of education at an eligible educational institution. The Attorney General shall apply the limitations contained in this part to retroactive assistance. (c) Prospective assistance The Attorney General may provide prospective assistance to a person eligible under this section on the same basis as assistance to a person otherwise eligible. In applying the limitations on assistance under this part, the Attorney General shall include assistance provided retroactively. A person eligible under this section may waive retroactive assistance and apply only for prospective assistance on the same basis as a person otherwise eligible.