The Honoring Our Fallen TSA Officers Act would amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to extend eligibility for Public Safety Officers’ Death Benefits to Transportation Security Administration employees who are performing official duties related to protecting the Nation’s transportation systems. The amendments define the TSA employee as eligible when those duties are connected to maintaining free movement of people and commerce.
The bill also sets the applicability so the changes apply to injuries sustained on or after October 31, 2013.
At a Glance
What It Does
Adds TSA employees performing official duties related to protecting transportation systems to the list of public safety officers eligible for death benefits by inserting new subparagraph (H) into 1204(14).
Who It Affects
Directly affects TSA personnel in operational roles, and the offices that administer Public Safety Officers’ Benefits.
Why It Matters
Creates parity with other federal public safety officers and ensures on-duty deaths of TSA workers are covered under the federal death-benefits program.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill is a targeted change to federal death-benefits rules. It adds a specific category of federal employees—Transportation Security Administration workers who are performing official duties related to protecting the Nation’s transportation systems—to the roster of public safety officers who qualify for death benefits when they die in the line of duty.
This is accomplished by inserting a new subparagraph (H) into the existing statute that defines who is eligible. The new definition makes clear that the eligibility extends to TSA employees whose official duties relate to safeguarding transportation networks and ensuring the free movement of people and commerce.
The act also specifies when these changes apply: they cover injuries sustained by individuals described in the new paragraph on or after October 31, 2013. The short title for this measure is the Honoring Our Fallen TSA Officers Act, and its effect is to harmonize TSA officer benefits with those available to other public safety officers under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill adds TSA employees performing official duties protecting transportation systems to the death-benefits eligibility list.
It inserts new subparagraph (H) into 1204(14) to define TSA eligibility for benefits.
The applicability clause targets injuries sustained on or after October 31, 2013.
The act is titled the Honoring Our Fallen TSA Officers Act.
The changes are limited to eligibility and applicability—no other benefit provisions are altered.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title
Section 1 designates the act by its chosen name, the Honoring Our Fallen TSA Officers Act. This provision establishes the label used in all subsequent statutory references and formal materials.
Eligibility for Public Safety Officers’ Death Benefits
Section 2 amends Section 1204(14) by inserting a new subparagraph (H) that defines eligibility to include a Transportation Security Administration employee who is performing official duties related to protecting the Nation’s transportation systems and ensuring freedom of movement for people and commerce. The modification also changes the surrounding punctuation to accommodate the new category and clarifies the scope for recognition under the death-benefits program.
Applicability
Section 3 specifies that the act and its amendments apply to injuries sustained by an individual described in the new subparagraph (H) on or after October 31, 2013. This creates a retrospective anchor for the eligibility expansion and clarifies the temporal scope of the benefit change.
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Who Benefits
- Families of TSA officers who die in the line of duty will gain access to federal death benefits previously unavailable to TSA personnel performing official duties related to transportation-system protection.
- TSA officers on the front lines (airports, rails, and other transportation modes) become eligible when their official duties relate to guarding transportation networks.
- Public Safety Officers’ Benefits program administrators (e.g., DOJ’s PSOB program) will adjudicate and apply the expanded eligibility in a consistent framework.
- DHS/TSA policy and benefits offices will implement and oversee the new eligibility criteria in coordination with benefits administrators.
Who Bears the Cost
- Federal funds used to pay Public Safety Officers’ Death Benefits may experience increased demand,” reflecting expanded eligibility.
- Administrative costs to DHS/TSA and the PSOB program for updating processing systems, records, and training of staff.
- Potential need for policy updates and procedural changes within benefits administration to accommodate the new eligibility category.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
Balancing the breadth of TSA duties that qualify for benefits against the need for clear, administrable criteria—while retroactively anchoring eligibility to injuries sustained since 2013—presents a trade-off between comprehensive coverage and administrative certainty.
The bill’s scope rests on a careful alignment of TSA officer coverage with other Federal public safety benefits. A primary tension lies in interpreting “official duties” and the phrase “related to protecting the Nation’s transportation systems” across diverse TSA roles and transportation modalities.
While the applicability provision ties eligibility to injuries sustained after 2013, the retroactive element could raise questions about past incidents and payout timing. The amendment also presumes the PSOB framework can absorb the new category without explicit funding provisions in the bill, which could affect implementation pace and resource allocation.
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