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First, I want to take a moment to reflect on the tragic loss of four of our Houston, Texas Local 341 members who responded to a restaurant and motel fire May 31 and our Phoenix Local 493 brother who was killed while responding to a mulch fire. On behalf of the IAFF and the Executive Board, our deepest condolences to the families and friends of our brothers and sister who gave the ultimate sacrifice, as well as those injured and all the members of Local 341 and Local 493.
In the weeks, months and years to come, we will think of our sister and brothers in Houston ? and all of our fallen members ? who gave their lives helping others.
And we will also make sure that their loved ones left behind are not forgotten. For more than 35 years, this International has served as the watchdog over the Public Safety Officer Benefit (PSOB) program to ensure that the families of our fallen have some financial peace of mind in the worst days of their lives.
We created the PSOB program in 1976 to provide a $50,000 benefit to the families of our members who make the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. Since then, it has been a long and sometimes frustrating journey, but this union has been there every step of the way to make sure the PSOB program continues to evolve and grow as the needs of our members and their families change.
I am proud to say that we have been the principal author of every amendment affecting coverage and benefit amounts.
We doubled the benefit amount to $100,000 in 1988 and made modifications to require increases every year based on the consumer price index. In 1992, we worked with Congress to amend the program to supplement workers compensation payments and disability pension benefits for public safety officers who are permanently disabled and unable to work. Another important expansion we made is the tuition assistance benefit for the children and spouses of the fallen.
We successfully fought to include coverage for federal fire fighters and public sector EMS personnel. We made sure the PSOB benefit was expanded for families who lost loved ones to occupational diseases by passing the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefit Act, which includes heart attacks and strokes suffered while on duty as part of the eligibility criteria.??After September 11, we helped expedite the claim process for the families of our fallen members so they did not have to wait for their benefits after experiencing one of the worst tragedies in American history. As part of the Patriot Act of 2001, the benefit was increased to $250,000 for all beneficiaries retroactive to June 2001. In honor of FDNY Chaplain Mychal Judge, who was killed on 9/11, we enacted the Mychal Judge Police and Fire Chaplains Safety Officers Benefit Act, which, in addition to making fire chaplains eligible, allows fire fighters to designate in their will who receives the benefit even if not legally related. Previously, if a fire fighter died without immediate family, the benefit went to the beneficiary on the life insurance policy.
But over the years, we?ve also fought back attempts to make changes to the legislation that would have made it ineffective. We defended the PSOB program when Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) made the outlandish claim that the program violates the U.S. Constitution and called for it to be abolished.
In recent years, the PSOB program was fraught with excessive bureaucratic requirements and unreasonable delays in paying benefits because of the needless and troublesome interference from the Department of Justice?s Office of General Counsel. ??But we looked at the problems and fixed the program, and are again seeing the solid results of our efforts. In May, we were able to completely remove the DOJ Office of General Counsel from the process. So now the families of our members who die in the line of duty no longer have to wait years to receive their benefits.
It is because of the work of this union that the PSOB benefit today is nearly $330,000. We will not stop advocating for and improving the program but will remain vigilant in building and expanding benefits to make sure our members can take comfort knowing their loved ones will be taken care of.
Harold A. Schaitberger
IAFF General President
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