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.