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Public Act 096-0923
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| HB5956 Enrolled |
LRB096 20692 RLC 36413 b |
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AN ACT concerning employment.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Line of Duty Compensation Act is amended by |
changing Sections 3 and 4 as follows:
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(820 ILCS 315/3)
(from Ch. 48, par. 283)
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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, or
State |
employee killed in the line of duty,
or if a claim therefor is |
made within 2 years of the date of death of an 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
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October 18, 2004, the
claim must be made within one year of |
October 18, 2004.
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(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;
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$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).
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(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
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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
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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.
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(d) If no beneficiary is designated or if no designated |
beneficiary survives at the death of the law
enforcement |
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officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member,
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paramedic, fireman, chaplain, or State employee
killed in the |
line of
duty, the compensation shall be paid in accordance with |
a legally binding will left by the law
enforcement officer, |
civil defense worker, civil air patrol member,
paramedic, |
fireman, chaplain, or State employee. If the law
enforcement |
officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member,
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paramedic, fireman, chaplain, or State employee did not leave a |
legally binding will, the compensation shall be paid as |
follows:
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(1) when there is a surviving spouse, the entire sum |
shall be paid to
the spouse;
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(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;
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(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
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(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
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dependent brothers or sisters or dependent descendant of a |
brother or
sister. Dependency shall be determined by the |
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Court of Claims based upon
the investigation and report of |
the Attorney General.
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The changes made to this subsection (d) by this amendatory Act |
of the 94th General Assembly apply to any pending case as long |
as compensation has not been paid to any party before the |
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General |
Assembly.
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(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.
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(d-2) If no beneficiary is designated or if no designated |
beneficiary survives at the death of the Armed Forces member |
killed in the line of duty, the compensation shall be paid in |
entirety according to the designation made on the most recent |
version of the Armed Forces member's Servicemembers' Group Life |
Insurance Election and Certificate ("SGLI"). |
If no SGLI form exists at the time of the Armed Forces |
member's death, the compensation shall be paid in accordance |
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with a legally binding will left by the Armed Forces member. |
If no SGLI form exists for the Armed Forces member and the |
Armed Forces member did not leave a legally binding will, the |
compensation shall be paid to the persons and in the priority |
as set forth in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection (d) of |
this Section. |
This subsection (d-2) applies to any pending case as long |
as compensation has not been paid to any party before the |
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General |
Assembly.
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(e) If there is no beneficiary designated or if no |
designated beneficiary survives 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 there is no other |
person or entity to whom compensation is payable under this |
Section, no compensation shall be payable
under this Act.
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(f) No part of such compensation may be paid to any other |
person for any
efforts in securing such compensation.
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(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.
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(h) In any case for which benefits have not been paid |
within 6 months of the claim being filed in accordance with |
this Section, which is pending as of the effective date of this |
amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, and in which there |
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are 2 or more beneficiaries, at least one of whom would receive |
at least a portion of the total benefit regardless of the |
manner in which the Court of Claims resolves the claim, the |
Court shall direct the Comptroller to pay the minimum amount of |
money which the determinate beneficiary would receive together |
with all interest payment penalties which have accrued on that |
portion of the award being paid within 30 days of the effective |
date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly. For |
purposes of this subsection (h), "determinate beneficiary" |
means the beneficiary who would receive any portion of the |
total benefit claimed regardless of the manner in which the |
Court of Claims adjudicates the claim. |
(i) The Court of Claims shall ensure that all individuals |
who have filed an application to claim the duty death benefit |
for a deceased member of the Armed Forces pursuant to this |
Section or for a fireman pursuant to this Section, or their |
designated representative, shall have access, on a timely basis |
and in an efficient manner, to all information related to the |
court's consideration, processing, or adjudication of the |
claim, including, but not limited to, the following: |
(1) a reliable estimate of when the Court of Claims |
will adjudicate the claim, or if the Court cannot estimate |
when it will adjudicate the claim, a full written |
explanation of the reasons for this inability; and |
(2) a reliable estimate, based upon consultation with |
the Comptroller, of when the benefit will be paid to the |
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claimant. |
(j) The Court of Claims shall send written notice to all |
claimants within 2 weeks of the initiation of a claim |
indicating whether or not the application is complete. For |
purposes of this subsection (j), an application is complete if |
a claimant has submitted to the Court of Claims all documents |
and information the Court requires for adjudicating and paying |
the benefit amount. For purposes of this subsection (j), a |
claim for the duty death benefit is initiated when a claimant |
submits any of the application materials required for |
adjudicating the claim to the Court of Claims. In the event a |
claimant's application is incomplete, the Court shall include |
in its written notice a list of the information or documents |
which the claimant must submit in order for the application to |
be complete.
In no case may the Court of Claims deny a claim |
and subsequently re-adjudicate the same claim for the purpose |
of evading or reducing the interest penalty payment amount |
payable to any claimant. |
(Source: P.A. 95-928, eff. 8-26-08; 96-539, eff. 1-1-10.)
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(820 ILCS 315/4)
(from Ch. 48, par. 284)
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Sec. 4. Notwithstanding
Section 3, no compensation is |
payable under this Act
unless a claim therefor is filed, within |
the time specified by that
Section with the Court of Claims on |
an application prescribed and
furnished by the Attorney General |
and setting forth:
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(a) the name, address and title or designation of the |
position in which
the officer, civil defense worker, civil |
air patrol member, paramedic,
fireman, chaplain, State |
employee, or Armed Forces member was
serving at
the time of |
his death;
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(b) the names and addresses of person or persons |
designated by the
officer, civil defense worker, civil air |
patrol member, paramedic, fireman,
chaplain,
State |
employee, or Armed Forces member
to receive the |
compensation and,
if more than one, the percentage or share |
to be paid to each such person,
or if there has been no
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such designation, the name and address of the personal |
representative of
the estate of the officer, civil defense |
worker, civil air patrol member,
paramedic, fireman, |
chaplain, State employee, or Armed Forces
member;
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(c) a full, factual account of the circumstances |
resulting in or the
course of events causing the death of |
the officer, civil defense worker,
civil air patrol member, |
paramedic, fireman, chaplain, State employee,
or Armed |
Forces member;
and
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(d) such other information as the Court of Claims |
reasonably requires.
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When a claim is filed, the Attorney General shall make an |
investigation
for substantiation of matters set forth in such |
an application.
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For the 2 years immediately following the effective date of |
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this amendatory act of the 96th General Assembly, the Court of |
Claims shall direct the Comptroller to pay a |
"Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty Benefit" to eligible late |
claimants who file a claim for the benefit. A claim for a |
Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty Benefit must include all the |
application materials and documents required for all other |
claims payable under this Act, except as otherwise provided in |
this Section 4.
For purposes of this Section 4 only, an |
"eligible late claimant" is a person who would have been |
eligible, at any time after September 11, 2001, to apply for |
and receive payment of a claim pursuant to this Act in |
connection with the death of an Armed Forces member killed in |
the line of duty or a fireman killed in the line of duty, but |
did not receive the award payment because: |
(1) the claim was rejected only because the claim was |
not filed within the time limitation set forth in |
subsection (a) of Section 3 of this Act; or |
(2) having met all other preconditions for applying for |
and receiving the award payment, the claimant did not file |
a claim because the claim would not have been filed within |
the time limitation set forth in subsection (a) of Section |
3 of this Act.
For purposes of this Section 4 only, the |
"Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty Benefit" is an amount of |
money payable to eligible late claimants equal to the |
amount set forth in Section 3 of this Act payable to |
claimants seeking payment of awards under Section 3 of this |