Public Act 093-1047
 
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.

Effective Date: 10/18/2004