SB1815 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 25837 RPS 52188 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
SB1815

Introduced 2/9/2023, by Sen. Linda Holmes

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

40 ILCS 5/5-157

from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 5-157

Amends the Chicago Police Article of the Illinois Pension Code. Provides that a policeman who assumes regular employment for compensation, while in receipt of disability benefits (instead of ordinary or duty disability benefits), shall not be entitled to receive any amount of such disability benefits which, when added to his or her compensation for such employment during disability, would exceed 125% (instead of 150%) of the rate of salary which would be paid to the policeman if he or she were working in his or her regularly appointed civil service position as a policeman. Provides that each policeman who is granted a disability benefit shall supply the Fund with a copy of his or her federal and state tax returns, along with all accompanying schedules, within 30 days after filing those returns. Provides that a policeman shall have no further right to receive the disability benefit if the policeman refuses to provide his or her filed tax returns. Provides that a policeman shall have an affirmative obligation to inform the fund when he or she has received a medical opinion that he or she no longer has a disability. Provides that when the disability ceases, the policeman shall have no further right to receive the benefit and he or she shall be returned to active service. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning public employee benefits.

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

Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by changing Section 5-157 as follows:

(40 ILCS 5/5-157) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 5-157)

Sec. 5-157. Administration of disability benefits.

(a) If a policeman who is granted duty or ordinary disability benefit refuses to submit to examination by a physician appointed by the board, he shall have no further right to receive the benefit.

(b) A policeman who has withdrawn from service while disabled and entered upon annuity prior to the effective date, and who has thereafter been reinstated as a policeman, shall have no right to ordinary disability benefit in excess of the amount previously received unless he serves at least one year after such reinstatement. This provision shall apply throughout the duration of any disability incurred by the policeman within one year after his reinstatement resulting from any cause other than injury incurred in the performance of an act of duty.

(c) A Until the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly, a policeman who assumes regular employment for compensation, while in receipt of ordinary or duty disability benefits, shall not be entitled to receive any amount of such disability benefits which, when added to his compensation for such employment during disability, would exceed 125% 150% of the rate of salary which would be paid to him if he were working in his regularly appointed civil service position as a policeman. The changes made to this Section by Public Act 90-766 are not limited to persons in service on or after the effective date of that Act.

Each policeman who is granted a disability benefit shall supply the Fund with a copy of his or her federal and state tax returns, along with all accompanying schedules, within 30 days after filing those returns. A policeman shall have no further right to receive the disability benefit if the policeman refuses to provide his or her filed tax returns. The reduction of disability benefits due to compensation for employment made by the changes to this Section by this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly shall apply to all persons in receipt of disability benefits on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly.

Beginning on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly, the reduction of disability benefits due to compensation for employment previously imposed under this subsection (c) no longer applies to any person receiving a disability benefit under this Article, without regard to whether the person is in service on or after that date. The removal of this limitation by this amendatory Act is not retroactive and does not entitle any person to the restoration of amounts previously reduced or withheld under this subsection.

(d) Disability benefit shall not be paid for any part of time for which a disabled policeman shall receive any part of his salary.

(e) Except as herein otherwise provided, disability benefit shall not be paid for any disability based upon or caused by any mental or physical defect which the policeman had at the time he entered the police service.

(f) Disability benefit shall not be allowed to any policeman who re-enters the public service in any capacity where his salary is payable in whole or in part by taxes levied upon taxable property in the city in which this Article is in effect, or out of special revenues of any department of the city. The disability benefit shall be suspended during the period he is in the public service for compensation, and shall be resumed when he withdraws from such service.

(f-5) A policeman shall have an affirmative obligation to inform the fund when he or she has received a medical opinion that he or she no longer has a disability, as defined in Section 5-115. When the disability ceases, the policeman shall have no further right to receive the benefit and he or she shall be returned to active service.

(g) If a policeman receives any compensation as temporary total disability, permanent total disability, a lump sum settlement award, or other payment under the Workers' Compensation Act or the Workers' Occupational Diseases Act as a result of the policeman's secondary employment for any injury resulting in disability, any disability benefit provided to the policeman for such disability under this Article shall be reduced by any compensation amount so received, if that compensation amount is less than the amount of the disability benefit. If the amount received as compensation exceeds the amount of the disability benefit, the policeman shall not receive the disability benefit until the disability benefit payable equals the amount of the compensation received without consideration of interest. The calculation of compensation received by the policeman as provided in this Section shall not take into consideration any benefits received under the Line of Duty Compensation Act.

If the widow, child or children, or parent or parents of a policeman, or any of these persons, receives any compensation under the Workers' Compensation Act or the Workers' Occupational Diseases Act as a result of the policeman's secondary employment for any injury resulting in the policeman's death, the annuities provided under this Article for those beneficiaries shall be reduced by any compensation amount so received, if that compensation amount is less than the amount of the annuities. If the amount received as compensation exceeds the amount of the annuities for the widow, child or children, or parent or parents, the annuities shall not be payable until the accumulated value of the annuities equals the amount of the compensation received without consideration of interest. In making the adjustment, the annuity to the widow shall first be reduced. The calculation of compensation received by the widow, child or children, or parent or parents of a policeman, or any of these persons, as provided in this Section shall not take into consideration any benefits received under the Line of Duty Compensation Act or the Public Safety Officers Benefits Act of 1976, 34 U.S.C. 10281 et seq.

(h) Any disability benefit paid in violation of this Section or of this Article shall be construed to have been paid in error, and the amounts so paid shall be charged as a debit in the account of any person to whom the same was paid and shall be deducted from any moneys thereafter payable to such person out of this fund, or to the widow, heirs or estate of such person.

(Source: P.A. 102-806, eff. 5-13-22.)

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