Mychal Judge Police and Fire Chaplains Public Safety Officers' Benefit Act of 2002
Public Law 107-196 · S. 2431 · 107th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by George W. Bush (R) on Jun 24, 2002 · Crime and Law Enforcement
Sponsor: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Cosponsors (5): Sen. Ben Campbell, Sen. Hillary Clinton,
Passage votes
- HouseUnanimous consent
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Mychal Judge Police and Fire Chaplains Public Safety Officers' Benefit Act of 2002 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to include police and fire department chaplains killed in the line of duty among persons who qualify to receive public safety officer death benefits.
Provides that if there is no surviving spouse or surviving child any such benefits shall be paid to the person designated by such officer as beneficiary under that officer's most recently executed life insurance policy, provided that such individual survived such officer. (Current law restricts such beneficiaries to the spouse, child, or parent.)
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 13 actions.
- Jun 24, 2002Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 107-196.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Jun 13, 2002PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Jun 11, 2002FloorFloor · A similar measure H.R. 3297 was laid on the table without objection.
- FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On passage Passed without objection.
- FloorFloor · Considered by unanimous consent.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Sensenbrenner asked unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table and consider.
- May 7, 2002FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- May 2, 2002CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Judiciary Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Judiciary Committee
- May 1, 2002CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.