Congress Passes Schmidt-backed Public Safety Bills

WASHINGTON, D.C. – (December 18, 2025) – Congressman Derek Schmidt (KS-02) today announced three public-safety bills he cosponsored have passed Congress and are expected to become law.

“Public safety is a core function of government,” Schmidt said. “I’ve joined in cosponsoring these three public safety bills to better protect children and to support law enforcement officers and firefighters, and I appreciate Congress approving all three and sending them to President Trump to be signed into law.”

The three Schmidt-backed public safety bills approved this week are:

• Protect Our Children Reauthorization Act of 2025 (H.R. 1274) reauthorizes and strengthens the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program. This legislation authorizes increased funding for ICACs and updates the national strategy to prevent child exploitation and strengthen ICAC task forces.
• Chief Herbert D. Proffitt Act of 2025 (H.R. 1236) expands the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits program to include retired officers who are killed or permanently disabled in targeted attacks due to their prior service.
• Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act (H.R. 1269) ensures the death or permanent disability of a public safety officer due to an exposure-related cancer is presumed a personal injury sustained in the line of duty under the Public Service Officer Benefits program if certain conditions are met.

All three public safety bills were included in the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2026, which Schmidt helped craft as a member of the House Armed Services Committee. The NDAA passed the House 312-112 on December 10 and the Senate 77-20 on December 17.