Proposed law filed on behalf of school district police officer wounded in Santa Fe HS shooting

Two Texas lawmakers crafted a bill that could impact hundreds of first responders and their families who file for federal benefits each year.

The proposed legislation is being introduced by United States Representative Randy Weber/(R) Tx.-14th Dist. and Senator Ted Cruz/(R) Texas. The bill would set a 270-day deadline for deciding claims filed with the federal Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program (PSOB).

“We owe it to our law enforcement officers, like Officer Barnes, who has waited for far too long to eliminate these bureaucratic barriers hindering their access to benefits,” Cruz said in a news release announcing the bill.

Weber and Cruzes’ efforts are in response to now-retired Santa Fe ISD police officer John Barnes, who has been waiting several years to find out whether he qualifies for this benefit.

“There’s no reason, no reason that they should have to wait that long,” Weber told KPRC 2 Investigates Robert Arnold in response to Barneses’ claim.

The PSOB was created in 1976 to provide a one-time financial benefit to the families of first responders killed in the line of duty. In 1990, the program expanded to include those first responders who suffered catastrophic injuries in the line of duty. According to the Fact Sheet from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, more than 1,200 claims are submitted yearly to PSOB.

Barnes was the first to confront the gunman who stormed Santa Fe High School in May 2018, killing two educators, eight students and wounding more than a dozen others. Barnes was hit in the arm with a blast from a shotgun, which shredded an artery. He nearly bled to death and the permanent damage to his arm ended his law enforcement career. Despite applying to PSOB after the mass shooting, Barnes has yet to receive an answer as to whether he qualifies.

“You’re making financial decisions and putting things off because you’re waiting for them to give you an answer on this benefit,” said Barnes.

Since Barnes had only been with Santa Fe ISD police for four months when the mass shooting happened, he did not qualify for full disability benefits. Plus, his pension from the Houston Police Department is taxed. If Barnes suffered this line-of-duty injury while still with HPD, he would have received his tax-free pension. This is why he also applied to PSOB.

“Two years ago, they said, ‘Well, we think it’s going to be fairly soon, you know, within the next six months or a year or whatever,’ and it just keeps dragging out,” said Barnes. “They need a deadline. Everybody needs a deadline by which to get something done or it just goes on forever.”

Weber and Cruzes’ proposed law is called the Officer John Barnes Act and sets a 270-day time limit for claims to PSOB to be decided.

“This is unacceptable, and no officer should have to endure such bureaucratic hurdles,” said Weber.

This is not the first time PSOB has been questioned over how long it takes to approve or deny a claim. A 2015 audit by the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General gave several recommendations as to how the process could be improved. In 2016, the DOJ’s deputy inspector general testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on “The Need for More Timeliness and Transparency,” regarding PSOB.

In 2017, Congress passed the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Improvement Act, which addresses lags in deciding death benefit claims. Senator Chuck Grassley/(R) of Iowa led the effort to get that law passed.

“People deserve fair and timely consideration of their application for these benefits, instead of the run-around from the federal government,” Grassley wrote in a news release announcing President Donald Trump signed the bill into law.

This law requires PSOB to file weekly status reports on claims and make a detailed biannual report to Congress.

According to a report dated June 7, PSOB had 724 pending death claims and 685 disability claims. Out of these claims, 791 have been pending for more than a year, according to PSOB data.