HB2644 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 09764 SPS 19830 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB2644

Introduced 2/6/2025, by Rep. Martin McLaughlin

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

820 ILCS 315/2

from Ch. 48, par. 282

Amends the Line of Duty Compensation Act. Expands the definition of "law enforcement officer" or "officer" to include any person working as a volunteer for the State or a local governmental entity in some position involving the enforcement of the law and protection of the public interest at the risk of that person's life, including, but not limited to, volunteers assisting with parking and traffic.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning employment.

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 2 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, or working as a volunteer for, 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, and includes, but is not limited to, volunteers assisting with parking and traffic. This includes supervisors, wardens, superintendents and their assistants, guards and keepers, correctional officers, youth supervisors, parole agents, aftercare specialists, school teachers, and correctional counselors in all facilities of both the Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice, while within the facilities under the control of the Department of Corrections or the Department of Juvenile Justice 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 Corrections or Department of Juvenile Justice employees who have daily contact with inmates. For the purposes of this Act, "law enforcement officer" or "officer" also means a probation officer, as defined in Section 9b of the Probation and Probation Officers Act.

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

(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 and Department of Juvenile Justice 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 willful 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 traveling 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, Operation Freedom's Sentinel, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn, or Operation Inherent Resolve.

(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, 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.

(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. 102-221, eff. 1-1-22; 103-605, eff. 7-1-24.)