PSOB Improvements Act Approved by House

July 2, 2012

On June 27, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4018, the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Improvements Act, by a voice vote. The Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) program provides death and education benefits to survivors of fallen public safety officers and disability benefits to officers catastrophically injured in the line of duty.

H.R. 4018, which the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) supports, was introduced in February by Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and makes several changes to the PSOB program, including making volunteer and employee members of private, nonprofit EMS agencies eligible.

“I’d like to thank the members of the House for passing this critical bill,” said NVFC Chairman Philip C. Stittleburg. “Volunteer firefighters and EMTs in private, nonprofit fire departments already qualify for PSOB while their counterparts in private, nonprofit EMS-only systems generally do not. H.R. 4018 fixes this inequity.”

H.R. 4018 also clarifies that public safety officers who suffer a vascular rupture injury in the line of duty qualify for PSOB under the Hometown Heroes Survivors’ Benefits Act. Hometown Heroes was enacted in 2003 and created a presumption that public safety officers who suffer a fatal heart attack or stroke in the line of duty are eligible for PSOB. Vascular rupture is a type of injury that is similar to heart attack and stroke and was intended to be covered under Hometown Heroes.

Now that it has passed the House, the focus for getting the PSOB Improvements Act enacted shifts to the Senate. The Senate version, S. 1696, was introduced last year by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). You can use the NVFC’s Capwiz service to thank your Representative for passing H.R. 4018 and to ask your Senators to co-sponsor S. 1696.