Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program: Bureau of Justice Assistance In Compliance With Offset and Reporting Requirements for 9/11-Related Claims
Fast Facts
The Public Safety Officers' Benefits program pays benefits to public safety officers or their families if the officers are permanently disabled or killed in the line of duty. If an injury or death is related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, officers may also be eligible for benefits from the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.
Our review found that when benefits are payable from the program and the fund, the Department of Justice adjusts the payments as required to avoid overpayments.
Information on these payments is available to the public in the program's reports. We found that the information in those reports has generally been reported correctly.
Highlights
What GAO Found
Public safety officers—law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians, among others—who die or become totally and permanently disabled after a line-of-duty injury are eligible for benefits from the PSOB, which provides a one-time, lump-sum payment to public safety officers or their surviving family members.
Public safety officers may also be eligible for compensation through the VCF. VCF can award monetary compensation to public safety officers who were physically injured or died as a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 (9/11) or during rescue, recovery, or debris removal efforts in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
The Dale Long Public Safety Officers' Benefits Improvement Act of 2012 requires the BJA to offset—that is, reduce—eligible PSOB benefits by the amount of any received VCF compensation. In addition, the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Improvement Act of 2017 (The Act) requires BJA to issue public reports every 180 days on PSOB claims. The Act also includes a provision for GAO to conduct a study on BJA's compliance with the offsetting requirements and review the completeness and accuracy of BJA's public reporting on PSOB claims related to 9/11.
This report examines the extent to which BJA is: 1) in compliance with requirements to offset benefits for claims that are eligible for both the PSOB and the VCF programs, and 2) accurately reporting information on PSOB claims related to 9/11 in its public reports.
Why GAO Did This Study
The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) complied with the requirements to apply offsets for claimants dually eligible for benefits from both the Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF). GAO found no discrepancies between PSOB and VCF when offsetting benefits during from October 1, 2019 through March 31, 2021—the time period for our review.
GAO's analysis also found that BJA generally reported accurate information in its 180-day reports on VCF claims and average award amounts related to 9/11 claims published between May 30, 2018 through November 16, 2020.
GAO is not making any recommendations.
For more information, contact Thomas Costa at (202) 512-4769 or costat@gao.gov.