Full Text of HB5956 96th General Assembly
HB5956enr 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HB5956 Enrolled |
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| AN ACT concerning employment.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The Line of Duty Compensation Act is amended by | 5 |
| changing Sections 3 and 4 as follows:
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| (820 ILCS 315/3)
(from Ch. 48, par. 283)
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| Sec. 3. Duty death benefit. | 8 |
| (a) If a claim therefor is made within one
year of the date | 9 |
| of death of a law enforcement officer, civil
defense worker, | 10 |
| civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, or
State | 11 |
| employee killed in the line of duty,
or if a claim therefor is | 12 |
| made within 2 years of the date of death of an Armed Forces | 13 |
| member killed in the line of duty, compensation shall be paid | 14 |
| to the person designated by the law
enforcement officer, civil | 15 |
| defense worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic,
fireman, | 16 |
| chaplain, State employee, or Armed Forces member. However, if | 17 |
| the Armed Forces member was killed in the line of duty before
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| October 18, 2004, the
claim must be made within one year of | 19 |
| October 18, 2004.
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| (b)
The amount of compensation, except for an Armed Forces | 21 |
| member, shall be $10,000 if the death in the
line of duty | 22 |
| occurred prior to January 1, 1974; $20,000 if
such death | 23 |
| occurred after December 31, 1973 and before July 1, 1983;
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| $50,000 if such death occurred on or after July 1, 1983 and | 2 |
| before January 1,
1996; $100,000 if the death occurred on or | 3 |
| after January 1, 1996 and
before May 18, 2001; $118,000 if the | 4 |
| death occurred on or after May
18, 2001 and before July 1, | 5 |
| 2002; and $259,038 if the death occurred on or after July 1, | 6 |
| 2002 and before January
1, 2003. For an Armed Forces member | 7 |
| killed in the line of duty (i) at any time before January 1, | 8 |
| 2005, the compensation is $259,038 plus amounts equal to the | 9 |
| increases for 2003 and 2004 determined under subsection (c) and | 10 |
| (ii) on or after January 1, 2005, the compensation is the | 11 |
| amount determined under item (i) plus the applicable increases | 12 |
| for 2005 and thereafter determined under subsection (c).
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| (c) Except as provided in subsection (b), for deaths | 14 |
| occurring on or after January 1, 2003, the death
compensation | 15 |
| rate for death in the line of duty occurring in a particular
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| calendar year shall be the death compensation rate for death | 17 |
| occurring in the
previous calendar year (or in the case of | 18 |
| deaths occurring in 2003, the rate
in effect on December 31, | 19 |
| 2002) increased by a percentage thereof equal to
the percentage | 20 |
| increase, if any, in the index known as the Consumer Price
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| Index for All Urban Consumers: U.S. city average, unadjusted, | 22 |
| for all items,
as published by the United States Department of | 23 |
| Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics, for the 12 months ending | 24 |
| with the month of June of that previous
calendar year.
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| (d) If no beneficiary is designated or if no designated | 26 |
| beneficiary survives at the death of the law
enforcement |
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| officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member,
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| paramedic, fireman, chaplain, or State employee
killed in the | 3 |
| line of
duty, the compensation shall be paid in accordance with | 4 |
| a legally binding will left by the law
enforcement officer, | 5 |
| civil defense worker, civil air patrol member,
paramedic, | 6 |
| fireman, chaplain, or State employee. If the law
enforcement | 7 |
| officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member,
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| paramedic, fireman, chaplain, or State employee did not leave a | 9 |
| legally binding will, the compensation shall be paid as | 10 |
| follows:
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| (1) when there is a surviving spouse, the entire sum | 12 |
| shall be paid to
the spouse;
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| (2) when there is no surviving spouse, but a surviving | 14 |
| descendant of the
decedent, the entire sum shall be paid to | 15 |
| the decedent's descendants per
stirpes;
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| (3) when there is neither a surviving spouse nor a | 17 |
| surviving descendant,
the entire sum shall be paid to the | 18 |
| parents of the decedent in equal parts,
allowing to the | 19 |
| surviving parent, if one is dead, the entire sum; and
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| (4) when there is no surviving spouse, descendant or | 21 |
| parent of the
decedent, but there are surviving brothers or | 22 |
| sisters, or descendants of a
brother or sister, who were | 23 |
| receiving their principal support from the
decedent at his | 24 |
| death, the entire sum shall be paid, in equal parts, to the
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| dependent brothers or sisters or dependent descendant of a | 26 |
| brother or
sister. Dependency shall be determined by the |
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| Court of Claims based upon
the investigation and report of | 2 |
| the Attorney General.
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| The changes made to this subsection (d) by this amendatory Act | 4 |
| of the 94th General Assembly apply to any pending case as long | 5 |
| as compensation has not been paid to any party before the | 6 |
| effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General | 7 |
| Assembly.
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| (d-1) For purposes of subsection (d), in the case of a | 9 |
| person killed in the line of duty who was born out of wedlock | 10 |
| and was not an adoptive child at the time of the person's | 11 |
| death, a person shall be deemed to be a parent of the person | 12 |
| killed in the line of duty only if that person would be an | 13 |
| eligible parent, as defined in Section 2-2 of the Probate Act | 14 |
| of 1975, of the person killed in the line of duty. This | 15 |
| subsection (d-1) applies to any pending claim if compensation | 16 |
| was not paid to the claimant of the pending claim before the | 17 |
| effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General | 18 |
| Assembly.
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| (d-2) If no beneficiary is designated or if no designated | 20 |
| beneficiary survives at the death of the Armed Forces member | 21 |
| killed in the line of duty, the compensation shall be paid in | 22 |
| entirety according to the designation made on the most recent | 23 |
| version of the Armed Forces member's Servicemembers' Group Life | 24 |
| Insurance Election and Certificate ("SGLI"). | 25 |
| If no SGLI form exists at the time of the Armed Forces | 26 |
| member's death, the compensation shall be paid in accordance |
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| with a legally binding will left by the Armed Forces member. | 2 |
| If no SGLI form exists for the Armed Forces member and the | 3 |
| Armed Forces member did not leave a legally binding will, the | 4 |
| compensation shall be paid to the persons and in the priority | 5 |
| as set forth in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection (d) of | 6 |
| this Section. | 7 |
| This subsection (d-2) applies to any pending case as long | 8 |
| as compensation has not been paid to any party before the | 9 |
| effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General | 10 |
| Assembly.
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| (e) If there is no beneficiary designated or if no | 12 |
| designated beneficiary survives at the death of the
law | 13 |
| enforcement officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol | 14 |
| member,
paramedic, fireman, chaplain, State employee, or Armed | 15 |
| Forces member
killed in the line of duty
and there is no other | 16 |
| person or entity to whom compensation is payable under this | 17 |
| Section, no compensation shall be payable
under this Act.
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| (f) No part of such compensation may be paid to any other | 19 |
| person for any
efforts in securing such compensation.
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| (g) This amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly | 21 |
| applies to claims made on or after October 18, 2004 with | 22 |
| respect to an Armed Forces member killed in the line of duty.
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| (h) In any case for which benefits have not been paid | 24 |
| within 6 months of the claim being filed in accordance with | 25 |
| this Section, which is pending as of the effective date of this | 26 |
| amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, and in which there |
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| are 2 or more beneficiaries, at least one of whom would receive | 2 |
| at least a portion of the total benefit regardless of the | 3 |
| manner in which the Court of Claims resolves the claim, the | 4 |
| Court shall direct the Comptroller to pay the minimum amount of | 5 |
| money which the determinate beneficiary would receive together | 6 |
| with all interest payment penalties which have accrued on that | 7 |
| portion of the award being paid within 30 days of the effective | 8 |
| date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly. For | 9 |
| purposes of this subsection (h), "determinate beneficiary" | 10 |
| means the beneficiary who would receive any portion of the | 11 |
| total benefit claimed regardless of the manner in which the | 12 |
| Court of Claims adjudicates the claim. | 13 |
| (i) The Court of Claims shall ensure that all individuals | 14 |
| who have filed an application to claim the duty death benefit | 15 |
| for a deceased member of the Armed Forces pursuant to this | 16 |
| Section or for a fireman pursuant to this Section , or their | 17 |
| designated representative, shall have access, on a timely basis | 18 |
| and in an efficient manner, to all information related to the | 19 |
| court's consideration, processing, or adjudication of the | 20 |
| claim, including, but not limited to, the following: | 21 |
| (1) a reliable estimate of when the Court of Claims | 22 |
| will adjudicate the claim, or if the Court cannot estimate | 23 |
| when it will adjudicate the claim, a full written | 24 |
| explanation of the reasons for this inability; and | 25 |
| (2) a reliable estimate, based upon consultation with | 26 |
| the Comptroller, of when the benefit will be paid to the |
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| claimant. | 2 |
| (j) The Court of Claims shall send written notice to all | 3 |
| claimants within 2 weeks of the initiation of a claim | 4 |
| indicating whether or not the application is complete. For | 5 |
| purposes of this subsection (j), an application is complete if | 6 |
| a claimant has submitted to the Court of Claims all documents | 7 |
| and information the Court requires for adjudicating and paying | 8 |
| the benefit amount. For purposes of this subsection (j), a | 9 |
| claim for the duty death benefit is initiated when a claimant | 10 |
| submits any of the application materials required for | 11 |
| adjudicating the claim to the Court of Claims. In the event a | 12 |
| claimant's application is incomplete, the Court shall include | 13 |
| in its written notice a list of the information or documents | 14 |
| which the claimant must submit in order for the application to | 15 |
| be complete.
In no case may the Court of Claims deny a claim | 16 |
| and subsequently re-adjudicate the same claim for the purpose | 17 |
| of evading or reducing the interest penalty payment amount | 18 |
| payable to any claimant. | 19 |
| (Source: P.A. 95-928, eff. 8-26-08; 96-539, eff. 1-1-10.)
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| (820 ILCS 315/4)
(from Ch. 48, par. 284)
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| Sec. 4. Notwithstanding
Section 3, no compensation is | 22 |
| payable under this Act
unless a claim therefor is filed, within | 23 |
| the time specified by that
Section with the Court of Claims on | 24 |
| an application prescribed and
furnished by the Attorney General | 25 |
| and setting forth:
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| (a) the name, address and title or designation of the | 2 |
| position in which
the officer, civil defense worker, civil | 3 |
| air patrol member, paramedic,
fireman, chaplain, State | 4 |
| employee, or Armed Forces member was
serving at
the time of | 5 |
| his death;
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| (b) the names and addresses of person or persons | 7 |
| designated by the
officer, civil defense worker, civil air | 8 |
| patrol member, paramedic, fireman,
chaplain,
State | 9 |
| employee, or Armed Forces member
to receive the | 10 |
| compensation and,
if more than one, the percentage or share | 11 |
| to be paid to each such person,
or if there has been no
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| such designation, the name and address of the personal | 13 |
| representative of
the estate of the officer, civil defense | 14 |
| worker, civil air patrol member,
paramedic, fireman, | 15 |
| chaplain, State employee, or Armed Forces
member;
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| (c) a full, factual account of the circumstances | 17 |
| resulting in or the
course of events causing the death of | 18 |
| the officer, civil defense worker,
civil air patrol member, | 19 |
| paramedic, fireman, chaplain, State employee,
or Armed | 20 |
| Forces member;
and
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| (d) such other information as the Court of Claims | 22 |
| reasonably requires.
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| When a claim is filed, the Attorney General shall make an | 24 |
| investigation
for substantiation of matters set forth in such | 25 |
| an application.
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| For the 2 years immediately following the effective date of |
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| this amendatory act of the 96th General Assembly, the Court of | 2 |
| Claims shall direct the Comptroller to pay a | 3 |
| "Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty Benefit" to eligible late | 4 |
| claimants who file a claim for the benefit. A claim for a | 5 |
| Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty Benefit must include all the | 6 |
| application materials and documents required for all other | 7 |
| claims payable under this Act, except as otherwise provided in | 8 |
| this Section 4.
For purposes of this Section 4 only, an | 9 |
| "eligible late claimant" is a person who would have been | 10 |
| eligible, at any time after September 11, 2001, to apply for | 11 |
| and receive payment of a claim pursuant to this Act in | 12 |
| connection with the death of an Armed Forces member killed in | 13 |
| the line of duty or a fireman killed in the line of duty , but | 14 |
| did not receive the award payment because: | 15 |
| (1) the claim was rejected only because the claim was | 16 |
| not filed within the time limitation set forth in | 17 |
| subsection (a) of Section 3 of this Act; or | 18 |
| (2) having met all other preconditions for applying for | 19 |
| and receiving the award payment, the claimant did not file | 20 |
| a claim because the claim would not have been filed within | 21 |
| the time limitation set forth in subsection (a) of Section | 22 |
| 3 of this Act.
For purposes of this Section 4 only, the | 23 |
| "Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty Benefit" is an amount of | 24 |
| money payable to eligible late claimants equal to the | 25 |
| amount set forth in Section 3 of this Act payable to | 26 |
| claimants seeking payment of awards under Section 3 of this |
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| Act for claims made thereunder in the year in which the | 2 |
| claim for the Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty Benefit is | 3 |
| made.
Within 6 months of receiving a complete claim for the | 4 |
| Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty Benefit, the Court of | 5 |
| Claims must direct the Comptroller to pay the benefit | 6 |
| amount to the eligible late claimant. | 7 |
| (Source: P.A. 96-539, eff. 1-1-10.)
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