Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SB2986
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Full Text of SB2986  102nd General Assembly

SB2986 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

  
  

 


 
102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
SB2986

 

Introduced 1/5/2022, by Sen. Jacqueline Y. Collins

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
New Act
30 ILCS 105/5.970 new

    Creates the Funeral and Burial Assistance Program for Murdered Children Act. Provides that a parent or guardian of a child victim under 17 years of age or anyone living in the household of a child victim in relationship to the victim that is substantially similar to a parent who has a household income of less than 150% of the federal poverty level who is killed as a result of a firearm may apply for funeral and burial assistance from the Department of Human Services in an amount not to exceed $10,000, indexed to inflation, beginning January 1, 2023, according to the Consumer Price Index. Provides that the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention shall review disbursement requirements by funeral establishments and upon conclusion of the review, provide a funeral establishment with a payment determination letter. Provides that the delinquent or criminal history of a child victim or an eligible survivor, or his or her status as a justice-involved individual, shall not automatically prevent an award for payment of a child victim's funeral and burial expenses. Establishes criteria for disbursement. Defines "justice-involved individual" as an individual who is imprisoned, on parole, probation, conditional discharge, mandatory supervised release, aftercare release, or any other release from custody, and supervised by or under the jurisdiction of a county or the Department of Corrections. Provides that every hospital licensed under the laws of the State shall display prominently in its emergency room posters giving notification of the existence and general provisions of the Act. Provides that any law enforcement agency that investigates an offense committed in the State shall inform the parent or guardian of the child victim concerning the availability of assistance for funeral and burial expenses under the Act and advise such persons that any information concerning the Act may be obtained from the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention. Defines various terms. Amends the State Finance Act to make conforming changes. Effective immediately.


LRB102 22322 RLC 31459 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

SB2986LRB102 22322 RLC 31459 b

1    AN ACT concerning firearm violence.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5Funeral and Burial Assistance Program for Murdered Children
6Act.
 
7    Section 5. Purpose; findings.
8    (a) Firearm violence is the leading cause of death for
9children and teenagers in this State.
10    (b) Parents and guardians who experience the death of a
11child by firearm violence face the painful process of
12bereavement while also bearing the responsibilities of
13planning a funeral and paying for funeral and burial expenses,
14usually through some form of debt.
15    (c) While the State assists the families of murdered
16children with funeral and burial expenses, assistance is
17primarily in the form of a reimbursement to the family after a
18formal application is submitted. After submission, the
19application undergoes a lengthy evaluation process by a review
20committee and a subsequent hearing before an administrative
21court. The process takes months, even years, before a final
22decision is rendered, during which time the victim's family
23can incur an overwhelming amount of debt.

 

 

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1    (d) This debt is particularly burdensome for low-income
2families, who struggle to repay the debt while continuing to
3provide for the family's basic needs. Many families rely on
4in-kind donations to support their basic needs while they work
5to pay off funeral and burial expenses.
6    (e) It is the intent of this Act to assist the families of
7children murdered in this State with funeral and burial
8expenses by having the State issue direct payments to funeral
9establishments instead of having the victim's family struggle
10to pay the cost and wait for reimbursement. Direct payments
11will enable families to conduct proper funeral and burial
12services without enduring significant financial hardship and
13debt.
 
14    Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:
15    "Child victim" means:
16        (1) a person under 17 years of age killed in this State
17    by a firearm as a result of a first degree or second degree
18    murder, as defined in Section 9-1 or 9-2, respectively, of
19    the Criminal the Criminal Code of 2012, perpetrated
20    against him or her;
21        (2) a person under 17 years of age killed in this State
22    as a result of attempting to assist a person against whom a
23    first degree or second degree murder by a firearm is being
24    perpetrated or attempted, if that attempt of assistance
25    would be expected of a reasonable person under the

 

 

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1    circumstances;
2        (3) a person under 17 years of age killed in this State
3    while assisting a law enforcement official apprehend a
4    person who has perpetrated a first degree or second degree
5    murder by a firearm or prevent the perpetration of any
6    such crime; or
7        (4) a resident of this State under 17 years of age who
8    is a victim of a first degree or second degree murder by a
9    firearm except, if the crime occurred outside this State,
10    the victim's survivors who are residents of this State
11    have the same rights under this Act as if the crime had
12    occurred in this State upon a showing that the state,
13    territory, country, or political subdivision of a country
14    in which the crime occurred does not have a compensation
15    of victims of homicide for which the survivors are
16    eligible.
17    "Eligible survivor" means the parent or guardian of a
18child victim, or anyone living in the household of a child
19victim in a relationship with the victim that is substantially
20similar to that of a parent, who has a household income of less
21than 150% of the federal poverty level and qualifies for
22payment of funeral and burial expenses under this Act.
23    "Funeral and burial expenses" means payments to a funeral
24establishment for funeral and burial services. Funeral and
25burial services include but are not limited to the transport
26of deceased human remains to a funeral establishment; the

 

 

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1preparation of deceased human remains for burial, including
2cleaning, disinfecting, and embalming; the preparation,
3direction, and supervision of the burial, cremation, or other
4disposition of deceased human remains, including furnishing a
5casket, vault, mausoleum or urn; and the administration of
6funeral arrangements, including providing printed materials,
7providing transportation of the deceased human remains to the
8burial site, and furnishing necessary facilities and
9equipment.
10    "Funeral establishment" means a State-licensed funeral
11home, funeral chapel, funeral parlor, or other business that
12provides funeral and burial services to a child victim.
13    "Justice-involved individual" means an individual who is
14imprisoned, on parole, probation, conditional discharge,
15mandatory supervised release, aftercare release, or any other
16release from custody, and supervised by or under the
17jurisdiction of a county or the Department of Corrections.
 
18    Section 15. Justice-involved individual as victim or
19survivor. The delinquent or criminal history of a child victim
20or an eligible survivor, or his or her status as a
21justice-involved individual, shall not automatically prevent
22an award for payment of a child victim's funeral and burial
23expenses.
 
24    Section 20. Additional powers; Office of Firearm Violence

 

 

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1Prevention. In addition to other powers and duties set forth
2in this Act and other powers exercised by the Office of Firearm
3Violence Prevention, the Office shall review disbursement
4requests submitted by a funeral establishment, including a
5verification of the eligible survivor's household income and
6of the child victim's death certificate or of the autopsy
7report or pathology report, and upon conclusion of the review,
8provide a funeral establishment with a payment determination
9letter.
 
10    Section 25. Additional powers; Department of Human
11Services. In addition to other powers and duties set forth in
12this Act and other powers exercised by the Department of Human
13Services, the Department shall disburse payment to a funeral
14establishment from the Funeral and Burial Assistance Program
15for Murdered Children Fund which is created in the State
16treasury.
 
17    Section 30. Right to disbursement. A funeral establishment
18is entitled to disbursement under this Act if:
19    (a) Within one year after the occurrence of the crime upon
20which a disbursement request is made, the funeral
21establishment shall submit the request to the Office of
22Firearm Violence Prevention on a form prescribed in accordance
23with Section 35 furnished by the Office of Firearm Violence
24Prevention.

 

 

SB2986- 6 -LRB102 22322 RLC 31459 b

1    (b) The Office of Firearm Violence Prevention may accept a
2request presented after the period provided in subsection (a)
3if it determines that the funeral establishment had a good
4cause for a delay.
 
5    Section 35. Disbursement request requirements.
6    (a) A disbursement request shall include:
7        (1) the name and address of the eligible survivor and
8    his or her relationship to the child victim;
9        (2) the date and nature of the crime on which the
10    disbursement request is based;
11        (3) the nature and extent of the injuries sustained by
12    the child victim, and the names and addresses of those
13    giving any medical and hospitalization treatment to the
14    child victim;
15        (4) a copy of the child victim's death certificate or
16    of the autopsy report or pathology report;
17        (5) documentation verifying an eligible survivor's
18    household income;
19        (6) a copy of the invoice detailing funeral and burial
20    expenses, including any applicable taxes, surcharges and
21    fees;
22        (7) releases authorizing the surrender to the Office
23    of Firearm Violence Prevention of reports, documents and
24    other information relating to the matters specified under
25    this Act and rules adopted in accordance with this Act;

 

 

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1    and
2        (8) such other information as the Office of Firearm
3    Prevention reasonably requires.
4    (b) The Office of Firearm Violence Prevention may require
5that material substantiating the facts stated in the
6disbursement request be submitted with that request.
7    (c) A funeral establishment, on its own volition, may file
8an amended request or additional substantiating materials to
9correct inadvertent errors or omissions at any time before the
10original request has been disposed of by the Office of Firearm
11Prevention. In either case, the filing of additional
12information or of an amended request shall be considered for
13the purpose of this Act to have been filed at the same time as
14the original request.
 
15    Section 40. Additional materials requested. If a funeral
16establishment does not submit all materials substantiating its
17disbursement request as requested by the Office of Firearm
18Violence Prevention, the Office shall notify the establishment
19in writing of the specific additional items of information or
20materials required and that it has 30 days in which to furnish
21those items to the Office. No disbursement shall be made for
22any portion of the establishment's request that is not
23substantiated by the establishment. An establishment may
24request an extension of time from the Office of Firearm
25Violence Prevention prior to the expiration of the 30-day

 

 

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1period.
 
2    Section 45. Amount of disbursement. Upon submitting a
3disbursement request to the Office of Firearm Violence
4Prevention and upon the Office's review of the request
5verifying that a survivor is an eligible survivor, a funeral
6establishment shall receive disbursement from the Department
7of Human Services in the amount of the total cost of funeral
8services provided, up to $10,000. Beginning on January 1,
92023, the maximum allowable disbursement amount shall be
10increased by an amount equal to any increase in the general
11inflation, as determined by the Consumer Price Index For All
12Urban Consumers as determined by the United States Department
13of Labor, for each subsequent year of the program.
 
14    Section 50. Prohibition against double payment;
15recordkeeping; payment recapture.
16    (a) An eligible survivor receiving an award for funeral
17and burial assistance for a child victim under this Act shall
18not receive an award for such assistance under the Crime
19Victims Compensation Act or the Department of Human Services
20Funeral and Burial Benefits Program, except for an amount in
21excess of the maximum award permitted under this Act, up to the
22total cost of funeral and burial expenses.
23    (b) Except as provided in subsection (a), any individual,
24eligible survivor, or funeral establishment under this Act

 

 

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1shall not retain a duplicate award for funeral and burial
2expenses for a child victim from any State agency or agencies.
3For the purposes of this Section, a duplicate award is one that
4results in a total award from the State for the cost of funeral
5and burial expenses for a child victim in excess of that
6authorized by the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention. To
7prevent such duplicate awards, the Office of Firearm Violence
8Prevention shall maintain an electronic record of each
9disbursement to a funeral establishment and provide access to
10such records to any State agency providing funeral or burial
11assistance to residents of this State.
12    (c) The Office of Firearm Violence Prevention is
13authorized to contract with third-party entities to conduct
14payment recapture audits to detect and recapture payments made
15in error or as a result of fraud or abuse. A payment recapture
16audit shall include the process of identifying improper
17payments paid to a funeral establishment or to an eligible
18survivor whereby accounting specialists examine payment
19records and uncover duplicate payments, payments for services
20not rendered, overpayments, payments for unauthorized
21services, and fictitious vendors. This audit may include the
22use of professional and specialized auditors on a contingency
23basis, with compensation tied to the identification of
24misspent funds.
 
25    Section 55. Hospital and law enforcement notification.

 

 

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1    (a) Every hospital licensed under the laws of this State
2shall display prominently in its emergency room posters giving
3notification of the existence and general provisions of this
4Act. The posters may be displayed by physical or electronic
5means. Such posters shall be provided by the Office of Firearm
6Violence Prevention.
7    (b) Any law enforcement agency that investigates an
8offense committed in this State shall inform the parent or
9guardian of the child victim concerning the availability of
10assistance for funeral and burial expenses under this Act and
11advise such persons that any information concerning this Act
12may be obtained from the Office of Firearm Violence
13Prevention.
 
14    Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding
15Section 5.970 as follows:
 
16    (30 ILCS 105/5.970 new)
17    Sec. 5.970. The Funeral and Burial Assistance Program for
18Murdered Children Fund.
 
19    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
20becoming law.