| Abstract: |
The Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program provides cash benefits to federal, state, and local law enforcement officers; firefighters; employees of emergency management agencies; and members of emergency medical services agencies who are killed or permanently and totally disabled as the result of personal injuries sustained in the line of duty. The Public Safety Officers' Educational Assistance (PSOEA) program, a component of the PSOB program, provides higher education assistance to the children and spouses of public safety officers killed or permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty. The PSOB and PSOEA programs are administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). Claimants dissatisfied with denials of benefits may pursue administrative appeals within DOJ and may seek judicial review before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Each year, Congress appropriates funding for PSOB death benefits, which is considered mandatory spending, and for PSOB disability benefits and PSOEA benefits, which is subject to annual appropriations. For FY2026, the one-time lump sum PSOB death and disability benefit is $461,656, and the PSOEA monthly benefit for a student attending an educational institution full time is $1,574. Two provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (P.L. 119-60), enacted on December 18, 2025, extended PSOB eligibility to retired public law enforcement officers with personal injuries caused by targeted attacks due to their prior law enforcement service and created presumptive eligibility for public safety officers with certain cancers linked to exposure to carcinogens. An overview of the Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program and the Public Safety Officers' Educational Assistance (PSOEA) program are presented in this report. |