Public Act 1073 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB1641 Enrolled LRB093 03192 RCE 03209 b

Public Act 093-1073

AN ACT concerning the military.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Line of Duty Compensation Act is amended by changing Sections 2 and 3 as follows:

(820 ILCS 315/2) (from Ch. 48, par. 282)

Sec. 2. As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) "Law enforcement officer" or "officer" means any person employed by the State or a local governmental entity as a policeman, peace officer, auxiliary policeman or in some like position involving the enforcement of the law and protection of the public interest at the risk of that person's life. This includes supervisors, wardens, superintendents and their assistants, guards and keepers, correctional officers, youth supervisors, parole agents, school teachers and correctional counsellors in all facilities of both the Juvenile and Adult Divisions of the Department of Corrections, while within the facilities under the control of the Department of Corrections or in the act of transporting inmates or wards from one location to another or while performing their official duties, and all other Department of Correction employees who have daily contact with inmates.

The death of the foregoing employees of the Department of Corrections in order to be included herein must be by the direct or indirect willful act of an inmate, ward, work-releasee, parolee, parole violator, person under conditional release, or any person sentenced or committed, or otherwise subject to confinement in or to the Department of Corrections.

(b) "Fireman" means any person employed by the State or a local governmental entity as, or otherwise serving as, a member or officer of a fire department either for the purpose of the prevention or control of fire or the underwater recovery of drowning victims, including volunteer firemen.

(c) "Local governmental entity" includes counties, municipalities and municipal corporations.

(d) "State" means the State of Illinois and its departments, divisions, boards, bureaus, commissions, authorities and colleges and universities.

(e) "Killed in the line of duty" means losing one's life as a result of injury received in the active performance of duties as a law enforcement officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, or chaplain if the death occurs within one year from the date the injury was received and if that injury arose from violence or other accidental cause. In the case of a State employee, "killed in the line of duty" means losing one's life as a result of injury received in the active performance of one's duties as a State employee, if the death occurs within one year from the date the injury was received and if that injury arose from a willful act of violence by another State employee committed during such other employee's course of employment and after January 1, 1988. The term excludes death resulting from the willful misconduct or intoxication of the officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, or State employee. However, the burden of proof of such willful misconduct or intoxication of the officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, or State employee is on the Attorney General. Subject to the conditions set forth in subsection (a) with respect to inclusion under this Act of Department of Corrections employees described in that subsection, for the purposes of this Act, instances in which a law enforcement officer receives an injury in the active performance of duties as a law enforcement officer include but are not limited to instances when:

(1) the injury is received as a result of a wilful act of violence committed other than by the officer and a relationship exists between the commission of such act and the officer's performance of his duties as a law enforcement officer, whether or not the injury is received while the officer is on duty as a law enforcement officer;

(2) the injury is received by the officer while the officer is attempting to prevent the commission of a criminal act by another or attempting to apprehend an individual the officer suspects has committed a crime, whether or not the injury is received while the officer is on duty as a law enforcement officer;

(3) the injury is received by the officer while the officer is travelling to or from his employment as a law enforcement officer or during any meal break, or other break, which takes place during the period in which the officer is on duty as a law enforcement officer.

In the case of an Armed Forces member, "killed in the line of duty" means losing one's life while on active duty in connection with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Operation Enduring Freedom, or Operation Iraqi Freedom.

(f) "Volunteer fireman" means a person having principal employment other than as a fireman, but who is carried on the rolls of a regularly constituted fire department either for the purpose of the prevention or control of fire or the underwater recovery of drowning victims, the members of which are under the jurisdiction of the corporate authorities of a city, village, incorporated town, or fire protection district, and includes a volunteer member of a fire department organized under the "General Not for Profit Corporation Act", approved July 17, 1943, as now or hereafter amended, which is under contract with any city, village, incorporated town, fire protection district, or persons residing therein, for fire fighting services. "Volunteer fireman" does not mean an individual who volunteers assistance without being regularly enrolled as a fireman.

(g) "Civil defense worker" means any person employed by the State or a local governmental entity as, or otherwise serving as, a member of a civil defense work force, including volunteer civil defense work forces engaged in serving the public interest during periods of disaster, whether natural or man-made.

(h) "Civil air patrol member" means any person employed by the State or a local governmental entity as, or otherwise serving as, a member of the organization commonly known as the "Civil Air Patrol", including volunteer members of the organization commonly known as the "Civil Air Patrol".

(i) "Paramedic" means an Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic certified by the Illinois Department of Public Health under the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems Act, and all other emergency medical personnel certified by the Illinois Department of Public Health who are members of an organized body or not-for-profit corporation under the jurisdiction of a city, village, incorporated town, fire protection district or county, that provides emergency medical treatment to persons of a defined geographical area.

(j) "State employee" means any employee as defined in Section 14-103.05 of the Illinois Pension Code, as now or hereafter amended.

(k) "Chaplain" means an individual who:

(1) is a chaplain of (i) a fire department or (ii) a police department or other agency consisting of law enforcement officers; and

(2) has been designated a chaplain by (i) the fire department, police department, or other agency or an officer or body having jurisdiction over the department or agency or (ii) a labor organization representing the firemen or law enforcement officers.

(l) "Armed Forces member" means an Illinois resident who is: a member of the Armed Forces of the United States; a member of the Illinois National Guard while on active military service pursuant to an order of the President of the United States; or a member of any reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States while on active military service pursuant to an order of the President of the United States.

(Source: P.A. 93-1047, eff. 10-18-04.)

(820 ILCS 315/3) (from Ch. 48, par. 283)

Sec. 3. Duty death benefit.

(a) If a claim therefor is made within one year of the date of death of a law enforcement officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, State employee, or Armed Forces member killed in the line of duty, compensation shall be paid to the person designated by the law enforcement officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, State employee, or Armed Forces member. However, if the Armed Forces member was killed in the line of duty before October 18, 2004 the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, the claim must be made within one year of October 18, 2004 the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly.

(b) The amount of compensation, except for an Armed Forces member, shall be $10,000 if the death in the line of duty occurred prior to January 1, 1974; $20,000 if such death occurred after December 31, 1973 and before July 1, 1983; $50,000 if such death occurred on or after July 1, 1983 and before January 1, 1996; $100,000 if the death occurred on or after January 1, 1996 and before May 18, 2001; $118,000 if the death occurred on or after May 18, 2001 and before July 1, 2002 the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly; and $259,038 if the death occurred occurs on or after July 1, 2002 the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly and before January 1, 2003. For an Armed Forces member killed in the line of duty (i) at any time before January 1, 2005, the compensation is $259,038 plus amounts equal to the increases for 2003 and 2004 determined under subsection (c) and (ii) on or after January 1, 2005, the compensation is the amount determined under item (i) plus the applicable increases for 2005 and thereafter determined under subsection (c).

(c) Except as provided in subsection (b), for For deaths occurring on or after January 1, 2003, the death compensation rate for death in the line of duty occurring in a particular calendar year shall be the death compensation rate for death occurring in the previous calendar year (or in the case of deaths occurring in 2003, the rate in effect on December 31, 2002) increased by a percentage thereof equal to the percentage increase, if any, in the index known as the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: U.S. city average, unadjusted, for all items, as published by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the 12 months ending with the month of June of that previous calendar year.

(d) If no beneficiary is designated or surviving at the death of the law enforcement officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, State employee, or Armed Forces member killed in the line of duty, the compensation shall be paid as follows:

(1) (a) when there is a surviving spouse, the entire sum shall be paid to the spouse;

(2) (b) when there is no surviving spouse, but a surviving descendant of the decedent, the entire sum shall be paid to the decedent's descendants per stirpes;

(3) (c) when there is neither a surviving spouse nor a surviving descendant, the entire sum shall be paid to the parents of the decedent in equal parts, allowing to the surviving parent, if one is dead, the entire sum; and

(4) (d) when there is no surviving spouse, descendant or parent of the decedent, but there are surviving brothers or sisters, or descendants of a brother or sister, who were receiving their principal support from the decedent at his death, the entire sum shall be paid, in equal parts, to the dependent brothers or sisters or dependent descendant of a brother or sister. Dependency shall be determined by the Court of Claims based upon the investigation and report of the Attorney General.

(e) When there is no beneficiary designated or surviving at the death of the law enforcement officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, State employee, or Armed Forces member killed in the line of duty and no surviving spouse, descendant, parent, dependent brother or sister, or dependent descendant of a brother or sister, no compensation shall be payable under this Act.

(f) No part of such compensation may be paid to any other person for any efforts in securing such compensation.

(g) This amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly applies to claims made on or after October 18, 2004 with respect to an Armed Forces member killed in the line of duty.

(Source: P.A. 92-3, eff. 5-18-01; 92-609, eff. 7-1-02; 93-1047, eff. 10-18-04.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.