SB1668enr 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB1668 Enrolled LRB093 02970 WGH 02986 b

AN ACT concerning veterans' affairs.

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

Section 5. The Illinois National Guardsman's Compensation Act is amended by changing Section 3 as follows:

(20 ILCS 1825/3) (from Ch. 129, par. 403)

Sec. 3. If a claim therefor is made within one year of the date of the death of the guardsman, compensation shall be paid to the person designated by such guardsman killed while on duty. The amount of compensation shall be equal to the greater of (i) $100,000 or (ii) the amount of compensation payable under Section 3 of the Line of Duty Law Enforcement Officers, Civil Defense Workers, Civil Air Patrol Members, Paramedics, Firemen, Chaplains, and State Employees Compensation Act when an individual to whom that Act applies is killed in the line of duty. If no beneficiary is designated or surviving at the death of the guardsman killed while on duty, the compensation shall be paid as follows:

(a) When there is a surviving spouse, the entire sum shall be paid to the spouse.

(b) 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.

(c) 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.

(d) 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.

When there is no beneficiary designated or surviving at the death of the guardsman killed while on 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.

No part of such compensation may be paid to any other person for any efforts in securing such compensation.

(Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)

Section 10. The Court of Claims Act is amended by changing Sections 8 and 21 as follows:

(705 ILCS 505/8) (from Ch. 37, par. 439.8)

Sec. 8. Court of Claims jurisdiction. The court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine the following matters:

(a) All claims against the State founded upon any law of the State of Illinois or upon any regulation adopted thereunder by an executive or administrative officer or agency; provided, however, the court shall not have jurisdiction (i) to hear or determine claims arising under the Workers' Compensation Act or the Workers' Occupational Diseases Act, or claims for expenses in civil litigation, or (ii) to review administrative decisions for which a statute provides that review shall be in the circuit or appellate court.

(b) All claims against the State founded upon any contract entered into with the State of Illinois.

(c) All claims against the State for time unjustly served in prisons of this State where the persons imprisoned shall receive a pardon from the governor stating that such pardon is issued on the ground of innocence of the crime for which they were imprisoned; provided, the court shall make no award in excess of the following amounts: for imprisonment of 5 years or less, not more than $15,000; for imprisonment of 14 years or less but over 5 years, not more than $30,000; for imprisonment of over 14 years, not more than $35,000; and provided further, the court shall fix attorney's fees not to exceed 25% of the award granted. On December 31, 1996, the court shall make a one-time adjustment in the maximum awards authorized by this subsection (c), to reflect the increase in the cost of living from the year in which these maximum awards were last adjusted until 1996, but with no annual increment exceeding 5%. Thereafter, the court shall annually adjust the maximum awards authorized by this subsection (c) to reflect the increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index For All Urban Consumers for the previous calendar year, as determined by the United States Department of Labor, except that no annual increment may exceed 5%. For both the one-time adjustment and the subsequent annual adjustments, if the Consumer Price Index decreases during a calendar year, there shall be no adjustment for that calendar year. The changes made by Public Act 89-689 apply to all claims filed on or after January 1, 1995 that are pending on December 31, 1996 and all claims filed on or after December 31, 1996.

(d) All claims against the State for damages in cases sounding in tort, if a like cause of action would lie against a private person or corporation in a civil suit, and all like claims sounding in tort against the Medical Center Commission, the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University, the Board of Trustees of Chicago State University, the Board of Trustees of Eastern Illinois University, the Board of Trustees of Governors State University, the Board of Trustees of Illinois State University, the Board of Trustees of Northeastern Illinois University, the Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University, the Board of Trustees of Western Illinois University, or the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy; provided, that an award for damages in a case sounding in tort, other than certain cases involving the operation of a State vehicle described in this paragraph, shall not exceed the sum of $100,000 to or for the benefit of any claimant. The $100,000 limit prescribed by this Section does not apply to an award of damages in any case sounding in tort arising out of the operation by a State employee of a vehicle owned, leased or controlled by the State. The defense that the State or the Medical Center Commission or the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University, the Board of Trustees of Chicago State University, the Board of Trustees of Eastern Illinois University, the Board of Trustees of Governors State University, the Board of Trustees of Illinois State University, the Board of Trustees of Northeastern Illinois University, the Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University, the Board of Trustees of Western Illinois University, or the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy is not liable for the negligence of its officers, agents, and employees in the course of their employment is not applicable to the hearing and determination of such claims.

(e) All claims for recoupment made by the State of Illinois against any claimant.

(f) All claims pursuant to the Line of Duty Law Enforcement Officers, Civil Defense Workers, Civil Air Patrol Members, Paramedics, Firemen, Chaplains, and State Employees Compensation Act.

(g) All claims filed pursuant to the Crime Victims Compensation Act.

(h) All claims pursuant to the Illinois National Guardsman's Compensation Act.

(i) All claims authorized by subsection (a) of Section 10-55 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act for the expenses incurred by a party in a contested case on the administrative level.

(Source: P.A. 89-4, eff. 1-1-96; 89-689, eff. 12-31-96; 90-492, eff. 8-17-97.)

(705 ILCS 505/21) (from Ch. 37, par. 439.21)

Sec. 21. The court is authorized to impose, by uniform rules, a fee of $15 for the filing of a petition in any case in which the award sought is more than $50 and less than $1,000 and $35 in any case in which the award sought is $1,000 or more; and to charge and collect for copies of opinions or other documents filed in the Court of Claims such fees as may be prescribed by the rules of the Court. All fees and charges so collected shall be forthwith paid into the State Treasury.

A petitioner who is a prisoner in an Illinois Department of Corrections facility who files a pleading, motion, or other filing that purports to be a legal document against the State, the Illinois Department of Corrections, the Prisoner Review Board, or any of their officers or employees in which the court makes a specific finding that it is frivolous shall pay all filing fees and court costs in the manner provided in Article XXII of the Code of Civil Procedure.

In claims based upon lapsed appropriations or lost warrant or in claims filed under the Line of Duty Law Enforcement Officers, Civil Defense Workers, Civil Air Patrol Members, Paramedics, Firemen, Chaplains, and State Employees Compensation Act, the Illinois National Guardsman's Compensation Act, or the Crime Victims Compensation Act or in claims filed by medical vendors for medical services rendered by the claimant to persons eligible for Medical Assistance under programs administered by the Illinois Department of Public Aid, no filing fee shall be required.

(Source: P.A. 90-492, eff. 8-17-97; 90-505, eff. 8-19-97; 90-655, eff. 7-30-98.)

Section 15. The Good Samaritan Act is amended by changing Section 70 as follows:

(745 ILCS 49/70)

Sec. 70. Law enforcement officers or firemen; exemption from civil liability for emergency care. Any law enforcement officer or fireman as defined in Section 2 of the Line of Duty Law Enforcement Officers, Civil Defense Workers, Civil Air Patrol Members, Paramedics, Firemen, Chaplains, and State Employees Compensation Act, who in good faith provides emergency care without fee to any person shall not, as a result of his or her acts or omissions, except willful and wanton misconduct on the part of the person, in providing the care, be liable to a person to whom such care is provided for civil damages.

(Source: P.A. 89-607, eff. 1-1-97; 90-742, eff. 8-13-98.)

Section 20. The Law Enforcement Officers, Civil Defense Workers, Civil Air Patrol Members, Paramedics, Firemen, Chaplains, and State Employees Compensation Act is amended by changing Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 as follows:

(820 ILCS 315/1) (from Ch. 48, par. 281)

Sec. 1. This Act shall be known and may be cited as the Line of Duty "Law Enforcement Officers, Civil Defense Workers, Civil Air Patrol Members, Paramedics, Firemen, Chaplains, and State Employees Compensation Act".

(Source: P.A. 89-323, eff. 1-1-96.)

(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 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. This includes supervisors, wardens, superintendents and their assistants, guards and keepers, correctional officers, youth supervisors, parole agents, school teachers and correctional counsellors in all facilities of both the Juvenile and Adult Divisions of the Department of Corrections, while within the facilities under the control of the Department of Corrections 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 Correction employees who have daily contact with inmates.

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

(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 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 wilful 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 travelling 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 Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.

(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", approved July 17, 1943, as now or hereafter amended, 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, as now or hereafter amended.

(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. 89-323, eff. 1-1-96.)

(820 ILCS 315/3) (from Ch. 48, par. 283)

Sec. 3. Duty death benefit. 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, 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, or State employee, or Armed Forces member. However, if the Armed Forces member was killed in the line of duty before the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, the claim must be made within one year of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly.

The amount of compensation 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 the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly; and $259,038 if the death occurs on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly and before January 1, 2003.

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.

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, or State employee, or Armed Forces member killed in the line of duty, the compensation shall be paid as follows:

(a) when there is a surviving spouse, the entire sum shall be paid to the spouse;

(b) 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;

(c) 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

(d) 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.

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, or 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.

No part of such compensation may be paid to any other person for any efforts in securing such compensation.

(Source: P.A. 92-3, eff. 5-18-01; 92-609, eff. 7-1-02.)

(820 ILCS 315/4) (from Ch. 48, par. 284)

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:

(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, or State employee, or Armed Forces member was serving at the time of his death;

(b) the names and addresses of person or persons designated by the officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, or 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 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, or State employee, or Armed Forces member;

(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, or State employee, or Armed Forces member; and

(d) such other information as the Court of Claims reasonably requires.

When a claim is filed, the Attorney General shall make an investigation for substantiation of matters set forth in such an application.

(Source: P.A. 89-323, eff. 1-1-96.)

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