SB3390 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB093 23507 LRD 53502 b

93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004
SB3390

Introduced 11/8/2004, by Sen. Larry K. Bomke

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

820 ILCS 315/2	from Ch. 48, par. 282
820 ILCS 320/10
820 ILCS 320/15

Amends the Law Enforcement Officers, Civil Defense Workers, Civil Air Patrol Members, Paramedics, Firemen, Chaplains, and State Employees Compensation Act. Provides that the term "law enforcement officer" includes a person who is employed as a security guard by the State on a full-time, part-time, temporary, or contractual-payroll basis and whose death in the line of duty results from injury incurred on or after September 1, 2004. Also makes technical corrections. Amends the Public Safety Employee Benefits Act. Provides that if a person who is employed by the State as a security guard suffers a catastrophic injury or is killed in the line of duty on or after September 1, 2004, the security guard and his or her spouse and dependent children are eligible for health coverage benefits under the Act. Provides that if a person who is employed by the State as a security guard is accidentally or unlawfully and intentionally killed in the line of duty on or after September 1, 2004, the State shall waive certain educational expenses incurred by the security guard's children. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

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 Law Enforcement Officers, Civil Defense Workers, Civil Air Patrol Members, Paramedics, Firemen, Chaplains, and State Employees Compensation Act is amended by changing Sections 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 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. "Law enforcement officer" or "officer" includes, but is not limited to, a person who is employed as a security guard by the State on a full-time, part-time, temporary, or contractual-payroll basis and whose death in the line of duty results from injury incurred on or after September 1, 2004. "Law enforcement officer" or "officer" also 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 to whom the immediately preceding definition does not apply, "killed in the line of duty" means losing one's life as a result of injury received in the active performance of his or her 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.

(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.

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

Section 10. The Public Safety Employee Benefits Act is amended by changing Sections 10 and 15 as follows:

(820 ILCS 320/10)

Sec. 10. Required health coverage benefits.

(a) An employer who employs a full-time law enforcement, correctional or correctional probation officer, or firefighter, who, on or after the effective date of this Act suffers a catastrophic injury or is killed in the line of duty and a State employer who employs a security guard on a full-time, part-time, temporary, or contractual-payroll basis who, on or before September 1, 2004, suffers a catastrophic injury or is killed in the line of duty shall pay the entire premium of the employer's health insurance plan for the injured employee, the injured employee's spouse, and for each dependent child of the injured employee until the child reaches the age of majority or until the end of the calendar year in which the child reaches the age of 25 if the child continues to be dependent for support or the child is a full-time or part-time student and is dependent for support. The term "health insurance plan" does not include supplemental benefits that are not part of the basic group health insurance plan. If the injured employee subsequently dies, the employer shall continue to pay the entire health insurance premium for the surviving spouse until remarried and for the dependent children under the conditions established in this Section. However:

(1) Health insurance benefits payable from any other source shall reduce benefits payable under this Section.

(2) It is unlawful for a person to willfully and knowingly make, or cause to be made, or to assist, conspire with, or urge another to make, or cause to be made, any false, fraudulent, or misleading oral or written statement to obtain health insurance coverage as provided under this Section. A violation of this item is a Class A misdemeanor.

(3) Upon conviction for a violation described in item (2), a law enforcement, correctional or correctional probation officer, security guard, or other beneficiary who receives or seeks to receive health insurance benefits under this Section shall forfeit the right to receive health insurance benefits and shall reimburse the employer for all benefits paid due to the fraud or other prohibited activity. For purposes of this item, "conviction" means a determination of guilt that is the result of a plea or trial, regardless of whether adjudication is withheld.

(b) In order for the law enforcement, correctional or correctional probation officer, security guard, firefighter, spouse, or dependent children to be eligible for insurance coverage under this Act, the injury or death must have occurred as the result of the officer's or security guard's response to fresh pursuit, the officer's, security guard's, officer or firefighter's response to what is reasonably believed to be an emergency, an unlawful act perpetrated by another, or during the investigation of a criminal act. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to limit health insurance coverage or pension benefits for which the officer, security guard, firefighter, spouse, or dependent children may otherwise be eligible.

(Source: P.A. 90-535, eff. 11-14-97.)

(820 ILCS 320/15)

Sec. 15. Required educational benefits. If a firefighter, law enforcement, or correctional or correctional probation officer is accidentally or unlawfully and intentionally killed as specified in subsection (b) of Section 10 on or after July 1, 1980, and if a security guard employed by the State is accidentally or unlawfully and intentionally killed as specified in subsection (b) of Section 10 on or before September 1, 2004, the State shall waive certain educational expenses which children of the deceased incur while obtaining a vocational-technical certificate or an undergraduate education at a State supported institution. The amount waived by the State shall be an amount equal to the cost of tuition and matriculation and registration fees for a total of 120 credit hours. The child may attend a State vocational-technical school, a public community college, or a State university. The child may attend any or all of the institutions specified in this Section, on either a full-time or part-time basis. The benefits provided under this Section shall continue to the child until the child's 25th birthday.

(1) Upon failure of any child benefited by the provisions of this Section to comply with the ordinary and minimum requirements of the institution attended, both as to discipline and scholarship, the benefits shall be withdrawn as to the child and no further moneys may be expended for the child's benefits so long as the failure or delinquency continues.

(2) Only a student in good standing in his or her respective institution may receive the benefits under this Section.

(3) A child receiving benefits under this Section must be enrolled according to the customary rules and requirements of the institution attended.

(Source: P.A. 92-651, eff. 7-11-02.)

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