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90_HB0950
40 ILCS 5/7-153.5 new
30 ILCS 805/8.21 new
Amends the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF)
Article of the Pension Code to provide an occupational
disease disability benefit for sheriff's law enforcement
employees who are disabled by heart disease and for their
dependent children and survivors. Amends the State Mandates
Act to require implementation without reimbursement.
Effective immediately.
LRB9004013EGfg
LRB9004013EGfg
1 AN ACT to amend the Illinois Pension Code by adding
2 Section 7-153.5 and to amend the State Mandates Act.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by adding
6 Section 7-153.5 as follows:
7 (40 ILCS 5/7-153.5) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 7-153.5)
8 Sec. 7-153.5. Occupational disease disability benefit.
9 (a) The General Assembly finds that service in the
10 county police department requires sheriff's law enforcement
11 employees to perform difficult and unusual tasks under
12 conditions of constant stress and frequent danger; that
13 sheriff's law enforcement employees are also subject to
14 exposure to extreme heat and cold in certain seasons while
15 performing the often vigorous physical demands of their
16 duties; that these conditions are likely to contribute to
17 occupational disease, especially heart disease; and that
18 these conditions exist and arise out of and in the course of
19 their employment.
20 (b) In lieu of the other disability benefits provided
21 under this Article, a sheriff's law enforcement employee who
22 suffers a heart attack or any other disabling heart disease
23 as a result of the performance of his or her duty may elect
24 to receive an occupational disease disability benefit. The
25 occupational disease disability benefit is 65% of the
26 sheriff's law enforcement employee's final rate of earnings
27 on the date the employee is removed from the payroll.
28 A sheriff's law enforcement employee who receives an
29 occupational disability benefit is also entitled to a child's
30 disability benefit of $20 per month for each natural or
31 legally adopted unmarried child less than age 18 dependent
-2- LRB9004013EGfg
1 upon the sheriff's law enforcement employee for support. The
2 total child's disability benefit, when added to the
3 occupational disease disability benefit, shall not exceed 75%
4 of the sheriff's law enforcement employee's final rate of
5 earnings on the date the employee is removed from the
6 payroll.
7 The occupational disease disability benefit is payable
8 during the period of the disability. If the sheriff's law
9 enforcement employee ceases to be disabled, he or she shall
10 thereafter receive such pension benefits as are provided in
11 accordance with the other provisions of this Article. If a
12 sheriff's law enforcement employee dies while receiving an
13 occupational disease disability benefit, the benefit shall
14 continue to be payable to his or her surviving spouse instead
15 of the surviving spouse annuity otherwise provided under this
16 Article.
17 The child's disability benefit shall be paid during the
18 period of disability until the child attains age 18 or
19 marries, whichever event occurs first, except that benefits
20 payable on account of a child under this Section shall not be
21 reduced or terminated by reason of the child's attainment of
22 age 18 if he or she is then dependent by reason of a physical
23 or mental disability, but shall continue to be paid as long
24 as the dependency continues.
25 (c) A sheriff's law enforcement employee who enters
26 service on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act
27 of 1997 shall be examined by one or more practicing
28 physicians designated by the board. If the examination
29 discloses impairment of the heart or the existence of any
30 heart disease, the sheriff's law enforcement employee is not
31 entitled to an occupational disease disability benefit under
32 this Section unless a later examination administered before
33 the development of the disability has found the impairment or
34 disease to be no longer present.
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1 Section 90. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding
2 Section 8.21 as follows:
3 (30 ILCS 805/8.21 new)
4 Sec. 8.21. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6
5 and 8 of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required
6 for the implementation of any mandate created by this
7 amendatory Act of 1997.
8 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
9 becoming law.