99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
SB1941

 

Introduced 2/20/2015, by Sen. Michael E. Hastings

 

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

    Amends the Line of Duty Compensation Act. Provides that, in the case of a law enforcement officer, fireman, volunteer fireman, or paramedic, "killed in the line of duty" includes a self-inflicted injury when a mental health professional establishes that the injury was a result of the active duty service of the law enforcement officer, fireman, volunteer fireman, or paramedic. Effective immediately.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

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 or in some like
12position involving the enforcement of the law and protection of
13the public interest at the risk of that person's life. This
14includes supervisors, wardens, superintendents and their
15assistants, guards and keepers, correctional officers, youth
16supervisors, parole agents, aftercare specialists, school
17teachers and correctional counsellors in all facilities of both
18the Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile
19Justice, while within the facilities under the control of the
20Department of Corrections or the Department of Juvenile Justice
21or in the act of transporting inmates or wards from one
22location to another or while performing their official duties,
23and all other Department of Correction or Department of

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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1    while the officer is on duty as a law enforcement officer;
2        (2) the injury is received by the officer while the
3    officer is attempting to prevent the commission of a
4    criminal act by another or attempting to apprehend an
5    individual the officer suspects has committed a crime,
6    whether or not the injury is received while the officer is
7    on duty as a law enforcement officer;
8        (3) the injury is received by the officer while the
9    officer is travelling to or from his employment as a law
10    enforcement officer or during any meal break, or other
11    break, which takes place during the period in which the
12    officer is on duty as a law enforcement officer.
13    In the case of an Armed Forces member, "killed in the line
14of duty" means losing one's life while on active duty in
15connection with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the
16United States, Operation Enduring Freedom, or Operation Iraqi
17Freedom.
18    In the case of a law enforcement officer, fireman,
19volunteer fireman, or paramedic, "killed in the line of duty"
20also includes instances in which the injury received by the law
21enforcement officer, fireman, volunteer fireman, or paramedic
22is self-inflicted and a mental health professional establishes
23that the injury was a result of the law enforcement officer's,
24fireman's, volunteer fireman's, or paramedic's active duty
25service.
26    (f) "Volunteer fireman" means a person having principal

 

 

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1employment other than as a fireman, but who is carried on the
2rolls of a regularly constituted fire department either for the
3purpose of the prevention or control of fire or the underwater
4recovery of drowning victims, the members of which are under
5the jurisdiction of the corporate authorities of a city,
6village, incorporated town, or fire protection district, and
7includes a volunteer member of a fire department organized
8under the "General Not for Profit Corporation Act", approved
9July 17, 1943, as now or hereafter amended, which is under
10contract with any city, village, incorporated town, fire
11protection district, or persons residing therein, for fire
12fighting services. "Volunteer fireman" does not mean an
13individual who volunteers assistance without being regularly
14enrolled as a fireman.
15    (g) "Civil defense worker" means any person employed by the
16State or a local governmental entity as, or otherwise serving
17as, a member of a civil defense work force, including volunteer
18civil defense work forces engaged in serving the public
19interest during periods of disaster, whether natural or
20man-made.
21    (h) "Civil air patrol member" means any person employed by
22the State or a local governmental entity as, or otherwise
23serving as, a member of the organization commonly known as the
24"Civil Air Patrol", including volunteer members of the
25organization commonly known as the "Civil Air Patrol".
26    (i) "Paramedic" means an Emergency Medical

 

 

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1Technician-Paramedic certified by the Illinois Department of
2Public Health under the Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
3Systems Act, and all other emergency medical personnel
4certified by the Illinois Department of Public Health who are
5members of an organized body or not-for-profit corporation
6under the jurisdiction of a city, village, incorporated town,
7fire protection district or county, that provides emergency
8medical treatment to persons of a defined geographical area.
9    (j) "State employee" means any employee as defined in
10Section 14-103.05 of the Illinois Pension Code, as now or
11hereafter amended.
12    (k) "Chaplain" means an individual who:
13        (1) is a chaplain of (i) a fire department or (ii) a
14    police department or other agency consisting of law
15    enforcement officers; and
16        (2) has been designated a chaplain by (i) the fire
17    department, police department, or other agency or an
18    officer or body having jurisdiction over the department or
19    agency or (ii) a labor organization representing the
20    firemen or law enforcement officers.
21    (l) "Armed Forces member" means an Illinois resident who
22is: a member of the Armed Forces of the United States; a member
23of the Illinois National Guard while on active military service
24pursuant to an order of the President of the United States; or
25a member of any reserve component of the Armed Forces of the
26United States while on active military service pursuant to an

 

 

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1order of the President of the United States.
2(Source: P.A. 98-558, eff. 1-1-14.)
 
3    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
4becoming law.