99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
SB1623

 

Introduced 2/20/2015, by Sen. Terry Link

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
820 ILCS 315/2  from Ch. 48, par. 282

    Amends the Line of Duty Compensation Act. Includes court security officers in the definition of "law enforcement officer". Effective immediately.


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A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning employment.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Line of Duty Compensation Act is amended by
5changing Section 2 as follows:
 
6    (820 ILCS 315/2)   (from Ch. 48, par. 282)
7    Sec. 2. As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise
8requires:
9    (a) "Law enforcement officer" or "officer" means any person
10employed by the State or a local governmental entity as a
11policeman, peace officer, auxiliary policeman, court security
12officer, or in some like position involving the enforcement of
13the law and protection of the public interest at the risk of
14that person's life. This includes supervisors, wardens,
15superintendents and their assistants, guards and keepers,
16correctional officers, youth supervisors, parole agents,
17aftercare specialists, school teachers and correctional
18counsellors in all facilities of both the Department of
19Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice, while
20within the facilities under the control of the Department of
21Corrections or the Department of Juvenile Justice or in the act
22of transporting inmates or wards from one location to another
23or while performing their official duties, and all other

 

 

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1Department of Correction or Department of Juvenile Justice
2employees who have daily contact with inmates.
3    The death of the foregoing employees of the Department of
4Corrections or the Department of Juvenile Justice in order to
5be included herein must be by the direct or indirect willful
6act of an inmate, ward, work-releasee, parolee, aftercare
7releasee, parole violator, aftercare release violator, person
8under conditional release, or any person sentenced or
9committed, or otherwise subject to confinement in or to the
10Department of Corrections or the Department of Juvenile
11Justice.
12    (b) "Fireman" means any person employed by the State or a
13local governmental entity as, or otherwise serving as, a member
14or officer of a fire department either for the purpose of the
15prevention or control of fire or the underwater recovery of
16drowning victims, including volunteer firemen.
17    (c) "Local governmental entity" includes counties,
18municipalities and municipal corporations.
19    (d) "State" means the State of Illinois and its
20departments, divisions, boards, bureaus, commissions,
21authorities and colleges and universities.
22    (e) "Killed in the line of duty" means losing one's life as
23a result of injury received in the active performance of duties
24as a law enforcement officer, civil defense worker, civil air
25patrol member, paramedic, fireman, or chaplain if the death
26occurs within one year from the date the injury was received

 

 

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1and if that injury arose from violence or other accidental
2cause. In the case of a State employee, "killed in the line of
3duty" means losing one's life as a result of injury received in
4the active performance of one's duties as a State employee, if
5the death occurs within one year from the date the injury was
6received and if that injury arose from a willful act of
7violence by another State employee committed during such other
8employee's course of employment and after January 1, 1988. The
9term excludes death resulting from the willful misconduct or
10intoxication of the officer, civil defense worker, civil air
11patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, or State
12employee. However, the burden of proof of such willful
13misconduct or intoxication of the officer, civil defense
14worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain,
15or State employee is on the Attorney General. Subject to the
16conditions set forth in subsection (a) with respect to
17inclusion under this Act of Department of Corrections and
18Department of Juvenile Justice employees described in that
19subsection, for the purposes of this Act, instances in which a
20law enforcement officer receives an injury in the active
21performance of duties as a law enforcement officer include but
22are not limited to instances when:
23        (1) the injury is received as a result of a wilful act
24    of violence committed other than by the officer and a
25    relationship exists between the commission of such act and
26    the officer's performance of his duties as a law

 

 

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1    enforcement officer, whether or not the injury is received
2    while the officer is on duty as a law enforcement officer;
3        (2) the injury is received by the officer while the
4    officer is attempting to prevent the commission of a
5    criminal act by another or attempting to apprehend an
6    individual the officer suspects has committed a crime,
7    whether or not the injury is received while the officer is
8    on duty as a law enforcement officer;
9        (3) the injury is received by the officer while the
10    officer is travelling to or from his employment as a law
11    enforcement officer or during any meal break, or other
12    break, which takes place during the period in which the
13    officer is on duty as a law enforcement officer.
14    In the case of an Armed Forces member, "killed in the line
15of duty" means losing one's life while on active duty in
16connection with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the
17United States, Operation Enduring Freedom, or Operation Iraqi
18Freedom.
19    (f) "Volunteer fireman" means a person having principal
20employment other than as a fireman, but who is carried on the
21rolls of a regularly constituted fire department either for the
22purpose of the prevention or control of fire or the underwater
23recovery of drowning victims, the members of which are under
24the jurisdiction of the corporate authorities of a city,
25village, incorporated town, or fire protection district, and
26includes a volunteer member of a fire department organized

 

 

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1under the "General Not for Profit Corporation Act", approved
2July 17, 1943, as now or hereafter amended, which is under
3contract with any city, village, incorporated town, fire
4protection district, or persons residing therein, for fire
5fighting services. "Volunteer fireman" does not mean an
6individual who volunteers assistance without being regularly
7enrolled as a fireman.
8    (g) "Civil defense worker" means any person employed by the
9State or a local governmental entity as, or otherwise serving
10as, a member of a civil defense work force, including volunteer
11civil defense work forces engaged in serving the public
12interest during periods of disaster, whether natural or
13man-made.
14    (h) "Civil air patrol member" means any person employed by
15the State or a local governmental entity as, or otherwise
16serving as, a member of the organization commonly known as the
17"Civil Air Patrol", including volunteer members of the
18organization commonly known as the "Civil Air Patrol".
19    (i) "Paramedic" means an Emergency Medical
20Technician-Paramedic certified by the Illinois Department of
21Public Health under the Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
22Systems Act, and all other emergency medical personnel
23certified by the Illinois Department of Public Health who are
24members of an organized body or not-for-profit corporation
25under the jurisdiction of a city, village, incorporated town,
26fire protection district or county, that provides emergency

 

 

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1medical treatment to persons of a defined geographical area.
2    (j) "State employee" means any employee as defined in
3Section 14-103.05 of the Illinois Pension Code, as now or
4hereafter amended.
5    (k) "Chaplain" means an individual who:
6        (1) is a chaplain of (i) a fire department or (ii) a
7    police department or other agency consisting of law
8    enforcement officers; and
9        (2) has been designated a chaplain by (i) the fire
10    department, police department, or other agency or an
11    officer or body having jurisdiction over the department or
12    agency or (ii) a labor organization representing the
13    firemen or law enforcement officers.
14    (l) "Armed Forces member" means an Illinois resident who
15is: a member of the Armed Forces of the United States; a member
16of the Illinois National Guard while on active military service
17pursuant to an order of the President of the United States; or
18a member of any reserve component of the Armed Forces of the
19United States while on active military service pursuant to an
20order of the President of the United States.
21(Source: P.A. 98-558, eff. 1-1-14.)
 
22    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
23becoming law.