Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) and Public Safety Officers' Educational Assistance (PSOEA) Programs. CRS Report R45327, Version 8. Updated

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 disabled in the line of duty. The PSOB and PSOEA programs are administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). This report discusses: (1) the PSOB program; (2) the PSOEA program; (3) the PSOB and PSOEA appeals process; (4) budget and appropriations; and (5) Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) issues (evidence of causation and the Safeguarding of America's First Responders Act).