Officer John Barnes and Chief Michael Ansbro Public Safety Officers' Benefit Program Expansion Act of 2026
Latest action. Held at the desk.
Officer John Barnes and Chief Michael Ansbro Public Safety Officers' Benefit Program Expansion Act of 2026
This bill establishes processing timelines and expands claims assistance, outreach, and reporting requirements pertaining to claims for benefits under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program. The PSOB program provides death, disability, and education benefits to public safety officers who are killed or injured in the line of duty and their survivors.
This bill requires the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to notify a claimant of any missing information required to process a claim within 90 days of receiving the claim and generally requires the BJA to determine eligibility within 270 days of a completed claim.
In addition, the bill requires the BJA to use its subpoena authority to obtain information or documentation that is necessary to adjudicate a claim if a public agency fails to provide it 30 days after a request.
Under the bill, the BJA must conduct ongoing outreach to promote awareness of the PSOB program. The BJA must also report on whether a delay in processing a claim was due to the inaction of the claimant or the public agency from which information is required.
The bill requires the BJA to implement the recommendations of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in the 2024 report, Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program: Transparency, Claims Assistance, and Program Management Improvements Needed .
Finally, the GAO must conduct an annual audit of PSOB claims that have been pending for more than one year.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed Senate" stage on August 7, 2026. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Held at the desk.
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The record's latest action, on August 10, 2026: Held at the desk.
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In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one has no outstanding steps listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced it on February 24, 2026, and 14 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 10 Democrats, 4 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 24, 2026, 245 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 78 days ago, on August 10, 2026.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateHeld at the desk.
- HouseNot stated in the latest action
- PresidentNot stated in the latest action