NCJ Number
94010
Date Published
1983
Length
105 pages
Annotation
These House of Representatives subcommittee hearings held in 1982 deal with four proposed amendments to the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act (PSOBA) of 1976.
Abstract
The PSOBA provides a $50,000 supplemental death benefit to the survivors of a public safety officer killed in the line of duty. The Act was passed because police officers and firefighters often had trouble securing insurance due to the danger in their work and because society had a moral obligation to the families of those who daily risked their lives for others. The four bills being considered were intended to expand the coverage of the Act. H.R. 1968 would extend coverage by defining physical injury to include a medical condition sustained while ingesting or inhaling a poisonous substance or while subject to extreme physical stress, on a single occasion or during a single event. H.R. 385 and H.R. 4141 would extend the Act by expressly covering the survivors of a rescue squad member. The two bills differ, however, in their definition of rescue squad. H.R. 3089 would extend coverage by eliminating the requirement that surviving parents of covered officers, in order to recover money, must have been dependent on the deceased. Testimony in favor of the amendments came from legislators, directors of rescue organizations, and police and firefighters' organizations. Tabular data are provided.