Honoring Civil Servants Act

Summary#

This bill raises and standardizes payments for people who die from injuries connected to their federal work or while serving abroad. It creates a new death gratuity in Title 5 that generally sets the payment at $100,000 and indexes that amount each March 1 to changes in the Consumer Price Index. It requires agencies to pay the gratuity from their salaries and expenses appropriations for deaths on or after the bill's enactment. The bill also: increases the funeral expense payment from $800 to $8,800 and indexes that amount; extends the new death-gratuity rules to certain FAA, TSA, VHA, and Foreign Service personnel; adjusts related payments under Title 10 for military-related deaths to be indexed; treats these payments as not taxable income; and allows agencies to request emergency supplemental appropriations if a disaster or other incident would cause costs to exceed available funds. The bill sets an order for who receives the gratuity (designated beneficiary by official form, surviving spouse, children/grandchildren, parents, estate executor/administrator, then state law) and specifies that a designation in a will does not count. It also repeals a prior 1997 death-gratuity authority and makes other technical changes. Applicability is for deaths occurring on or after the date of enactment.

What it means for you#

  • If an eligible civil servant dies from injuries related to their work, survivors may receive a higher, indexed death gratuity (generally $100,000, adjusted each year).
  • Funeral expense payments for eligible deaths rise to $8,800 and are adjusted yearly for inflation.
  • Payments are generally tax-free for recipients under the Internal Revenue Code, according to the bill text.
  • The bill applies to many categories of employees, including certain FAA, TSA, Veterans Health Administration, Foreign Service staff, and deaths tied to military service rules it amends.
  • Survivors must rely on the agency’s official beneficiary form to name a primary recipient; a will-based beneficiary does not override that form.

Expenses#

  • The bill directs agencies to pay gratuities from their salaries and expenses appropriations.
  • It indexes payments to inflation so amounts change each year.
  • The bill authorizes agencies, with OMB concurrence, to seek emergency supplemental appropriations if a disaster or incident would make required payments exceed available funds. Congress is urged to act on such requests within 30 days (a nonbinding sense of Congress).
  • No publicly available information on the total budgetary cost or fiscal estimates is included in the bill text provided.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.