S. 911, Chief Herbert D. Proffitt Act of 2025

S. 911 would extend eligibility for death, disability, and education benefits provided by the Public Safety Officers’ Benefit (PSOB) Program to retired public safety officers and their beneficiaries if a retired officer dies or becomes permanently and totally disabled as a direct result of an injury sustained from an attack that was motivated because of their service. The act would apply retroactively to officers who die or become permanently disabled on or after January 1, 2012.

Background

The PSOB Program is administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide cash benefits to federal, state, and local public safety officers and their beneficiaries in the event of death or permanent and total disability resulting from physical injuries. The program also provides benefits for certain mental health conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Education benefits are available to eligible spouses and children of officers who die or become disabled in the line of duty. Public safety officers include firefighters and those working in law enforcement, emergency management, and emergency medical services.

Direct Spending

The PSOB Program pays a onetime death benefit to spouses and children or other designated beneficiaries of officers who die in the line of duty. The cost of that death benefit is classified in the budget as direct spending and, under current law, the benefit amount is adjusted annually to account for inflation. In 2025, the benefit was $448,575.

CBO is aware of one claim that would be eligible under S. 911 and expects the number of future claims filed and approved under the act to be small. Based on the time that CBO estimates it would take DOJ to process each claim and accounting for anticipated inflation, CBO estimates that enacting S. 911 would increase direct spending by $1 million over the 2026-2035 period.

Spending Subject to Appropriation

By expanding the scope of qualifying deaths and injuries, S. 911 also would increase the number of claimants eligible for disability and education benefits under the PSOB Program. Using information from DOJ on the types of claims and their approval rates, CBO expects that, under the legislation, fewer claims would be filed for disability and education benefits than would be filed for death benefits. CBO estimates that implementing S. 911 would cost less than $500,000 over the 2026-2030 period; any related spending for education and disability benefits would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

Uncertainty

CBO’s cost estimate for S. 911 is subject to significant uncertainty. In particular, limited data are available to estimate the number of people who would be eligible to file claims for benefits. If the number of eligible claimants is larger or smaller than CBO expects, the costs of enacting the act could be higher or lower than estimated.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeremy Crimm. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.