Public Act 094-0843
 		





HB5251 Enrolled
LRB094 19248 WGH 54835 b






    AN ACT concerning certain individuals killed in the line of 
duty.

 
    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 Section 3 as follows:
 



    (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
claim must be 
made within one year of October 18, 2004.

    (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; and $259,038 if the death occurred on or after July 1, 
2002 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 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) when there is a surviving spouse, the entire sum 
    shall be paid to
the spouse;


        (2) 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) 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) 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.

    (d-1) For purposes of subsection (d), in the case  of a 
person killed in the line of duty who was born out of wedlock 
and was not an adoptive child at the time of the person's 
death, a person shall be deemed to be a parent of the person 
killed in the line of duty only if that person would be an 
eligible parent, as defined in Section 2-2 of the Probate Act 
of 1975, of the person killed in the line of duty. This 
subsection (d-1) applies to any pending claim if  compensation 
was not paid to the claimant of the pending claim before the 
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General 
Assembly.

    (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; 93-1073, eff. 1-18-05.)

 

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