# What This Bill Does

This bill makes technical fixes to how the federal government handles survivor benefits for families of Washington D.C. police officers, firefighters, and teachers who die in the line of duty or while employed. The changes are designed to make the rules fairer and more consistent with how the federal government treats similar situations.

The main change involves domestic partnerships. Currently, if a D.C. police officer, firefighter, or teacher has a domestic partner (an unmarried partner in a committed relationship), that partner doesn't receive the same survivor benefits that a spouse would get from the federal government, even though D.C. law treats domestic partnerships like marriages for its own benefit programs. This bill fixes that inconsistency by saying the federal government should treat domestic partnerships the same way D.C. does when paying out survivor benefits.

The bill also changes the remarriage rules for surviving spouses. Right now, if a surviving spouse remarries, they can lose their benefits. But this bill says that if a surviving spouse remarries after age 55, they can keep their benefits—matching the same age rule that applies to federal employees' families. There's one exception: if someone remarries before age 55, they only keep their benefits if they were married to the officer, firefighter, or teacher for at least 30 years. The bill also makes a similar change for survivors of D.C. judges.

Finally, the bill allows certain people who worked for D.C. and are now in the federal retirement system to make catch-up payments so their D.C. service time counts toward their federal retirement benefits and survivor benefits.