On Aug. 16, President Biden signed into law the Public Safety Officer Support Act (PL 117-172), which makes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a line of duty injury under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Program and ensures officers who suffer from PTSD and those who take or attempt to take their own life as a result of on-duty trauma will be eligible under the program. The Act also covers officers who die by trauma-linked suicide by directing the PSOB Program to presume suicides are a result of job duties in certain circumstances, such as a mass casualty event, where there is evidence that PTSD would be caused by the trauma. PSOB claims can be submitted for PTSD and suicide-related deaths or injuries that occurred on or after Jan. 1, 2019; President Biden also signed the TBI and PTSD Law Enforcement Training Act on Aug. 16, which provides for much-needed additional training opportunities for law enforcement to improve officer response to persons affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It also reauthorizes the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration (JMHCP) Program for five years and increases its authorized funding level to $54 million per year; The Department of Education announced a change to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program rules through Oct. 31, 2022, to allow federal student loan borrowers to receive credit for past periods of repayment that would otherwise not qualify. The PSLF Program allows individuals who have worked for a non-profit or a federal, state or local government entity for 10 years to have their federal student loans forgiven. To qualify, borrowers must make 120 payments on a Direct Loan while on a qualifying repayment plan and be employed by a qualifying public service employer; NAPO Executive Director Bill Johnson met with U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Associate Attorney General (AAG) Vanita Gupta and staff to discuss our concerns with how the Department will implement the President’s Executive Order on Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety; Register now for NAPO’s 2022 Fall Seminar Oct. 31– Nov. 2, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which will focus on the mid-term national elections, and what the outcome means for control of the Congress and NAPO’s legislative priorities; NAPO’s updated “Sponsor/Cosponsor” spreadsheet and the latest “Legislative Positions” document are available on NAPO’s website.

For more information on these and other legislative issues impacting law enforcement, please click on the Sept. 1, 2022 Washington Report below.