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HR-3367, Disabled Public Safety Officer Fairness Act of 2011
Are you aware that any firefighter, police officer, volunteer firefighter, or any other public safety officer injured before November 29, 1990 in the United States can't collect the Federal public safety officer disability benefit? This is because this is the date this Federal law was established and became law. What about the firefighters, police officers, volunteer firerfighters, and public safety officers injured before this date and are still living, are we to be forgotten about?
Congressman Ed Towns of Brooklyn, NY has introduced Federal Legislation into the 112th Congress that will provide disability benefits to officers disabled before the establishment of the Federal public safety officer disability benefit law. This is called HR-3367, and has been examined by the Congressional Budget Comittee in Washington, DC and found to be cost-neutral.
This bill is also co-sponsored by Congressman Tom Reed NY, and Congressman Charles Rangel of NY.
Please ask your Congressional Representative to be a co-sponsor to this bill by contacting Emily Sheety who is Congressman Towns Legislative Director in Washington, DC at 1-202-225-5936.
Thanks, Mike Nicholson-one of 38 total permanent disabled volunteer firefighters in New York.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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The first question that comes to mind is: Where do you draw the line? The bill was enacted in 1990 with (at the time) no option for retroactive awards. I suspect that in order for that bill to have passed there needed a clear start point from which benefits would be awarded. If not the money needed to be appropriated probably would have been too great to have allowed the bill to pass.
As to the claim that the bill would be "cost-neutral", that would be true if it doesn't require any further funding. That being the case though, by retroactively awarding benefits to anyone 'permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty' means that their awards would come from the present fund (and funding). Wouldn't that mean that it would dilute (less money/benefits available for) the awards for everyone?
Frankly I don't know what the system was prior to 1990. On the paid side there would have been union disability benefits available but on the volunteer side I have to assume it would have been up to whatever system each VFD had in place for their members. While workman's comp may not be the best system available, with proper documentation it would have paid something, as would SS disability.
So again we're left with the original question: Where do you draw the line? The way HR-3367 is written it appears that survivors of PSOs could make a claim for benefits that could go back 50, 60 or more years. Imagine paying out funds to someone permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty for an incident that occurred in the 1950's. Clearly this would in a very short time bankrupt the present fund. Bearing in mind that the PSOB's include not just a cash award, but college tuition to dependents as well. Since there is no wording to the contrary one can further assume that dependents -now adults and parents or grandparents- could be making a claim for the college education that they or their family paid for.
So as it exists, the wording of HR-3367 opens the door for ALL claims of total and permanent disability in the line of duty with no cut-off date (other than 1990 in the present law). At the best, claims would be drastically diluted, to the point possibly of having little benefit. At the worst it would quickly consume all of the funding, requiring either an massive appropriation of funding or cessation of the PSOB program.
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