State of Illinois
90th General Assembly
Legislation

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90_SB1190

      820 ILCS 315/2            from Ch. 48, par. 282
      820 ILCS 315/5            from Ch. 48, par. 285
      30 ILCS 805/8.22 new
          Amends  the  Law  Enforcement  Officers,  Civil   Defense
      Workers,  Civil  Air  Patrol  Members,  Paramedics,  Firemen,
      Chaplains,  and  State  Employees Compensation Act.  Provides
      that a law enforcement officer who dies as the result  of  an
      injury  received  in  the course of attempting to prevent the
      commission of a criminal act  by  another  or  attempting  to
      apprehend   an  individual  whom  the  officer  suspects  has
      committed a crime shall be deemed to have been killed in  the
      line  of  duty,  regardless of whether the injury is received
      while the officer is on duty as a law enforcement officer and
      regardless of any intoxication or conduct on the part of  the
      officer  that  may  have  contributed  to  the injury; if the
      officer is employed by a local governmental entity,  provides
      that  the  survivor or other beneficiary of the officer shall
      be entitled  to  receive  any  benefits  that  are  regularly
      provided  by  the local governmental entity in cases of death
      of a law enforcement officer in the line of duty.   Pre-empts
      home  rule.    Amends  the  State  Mandates  Act  to  require
      implementation without reimbursement.  Effective immediately.
                                                     LRB9006657EGfg
                                               LRB9006657EGfg
 1        AN  ACT  in  relation to law enforcement officers who are
 2    killed in the line of duty, amending named Acts.
 3        Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
 4    represented in the General Assembly:
 5        Section  5.   The Law Enforcement Officers, Civil Defense
 6    Workers,  Civil  Air  Patrol  Members,  Paramedics,  Firemen,
 7    Chaplains, and State Employees Compensation Act is amended by
 8    changing Sections 2 and 5 as follows:
 9        (820 ILCS 315/2) (from Ch. 48, par. 282)
10        Sec.  2.   As  used  in  this  Act,  unless  the  context
11    otherwise requires:
12        (a)  "Law enforcement officer"  or  "officer"  means  any
13    person  employed  by the State or a local governmental entity
14    as a policeman, peace officer, auxiliary policeman or in some
15    like position  involving  the  enforcement  of  the  law  and
16    protection  of  the  public  interest  at  the  risk  of that
17    person's   life.   This   includes   supervisors,    wardens,
18    superintendents  and  their  assistants,  guards and keepers,
19    correctional  officers,  youth  supervisors,  parole  agents,
20    school  teachers  and   correctional   counsellors   in   all
21    facilities  of  both  the Juvenile and Adult Divisions of the
22    Department of Corrections, while within the facilities  under
23    the control of the Department of Corrections or in the act of
24    transporting inmates or wards from one location to another or
25    while   performing  their  official  duties,  and  all  other
26    Department of Correction employees  who  have  daily  contact
27    with inmates.
28        The death of the foregoing employees of the Department of
29    Corrections  in  order  to  be included herein must be by the
30    direct  or  indirect  willful  act  of   an   inmate,   ward,
31    work-releasee,   parolee,   parole   violator,  person  under
                            -2-                LRB9006657EGfg
 1    conditional release, or any person sentenced or committed, or
 2    otherwise subject to confinement in or to the  Department  of
 3    Corrections.
 4        (b)  "Fireman"  means any person employed by the State or
 5    a local governmental entity as, or otherwise  serving  as,  a
 6    member or officer of a fire department either for the purpose
 7    of  the  prevention  or  control  of  fire  or the underwater
 8    recovery of drowning victims, including volunteer firemen.
 9        (c)  "Local  governmental  entity"   includes   counties,
10    municipalities and municipal corporations.
11        (d)  "State"   means   the  State  of  Illinois  and  its
12    departments,   divisions,   boards,   bureaus,   commissions,
13    authorities and colleges and universities.
14        (e)  "Killed in the line of duty" means losing one's life
15    as a result of injury received in the active  performance  of
16    duties  as  a  law enforcement officer, civil defense worker,
17    civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, or  chaplain  if
18    the death occurs within one year from the date the injury was
19    received  and  if  that  injury  arose from violence or other
20    accidental cause.  In the case of a State  employee,  "killed
21    in  the  line of duty" means losing one's life as a result of
22    injury received in the active performance of one's duties  as
23    a  State  employee,  if the death occurs within one year from
24    the date the injury was received and  if  that  injury  arose
25    from  a  willful  act  of  violence by another State employee
26    committed during such other employee's course  of  employment
27    and  after  January 1, 1988.  Except in the case of an injury
28    received on or after July 1,  1997  under  the  circumstances
29    described  in  subdivision  (2)  of this subsection, the term
30    excludes death  resulting  from  the  willful  misconduct  or
31    intoxication  of the officer, civil defense worker, civil air
32    patrol  member,  paramedic,  fireman,  chaplain,   or   State
33    employee.   However,  the  burden  of  proof  of such willful
34    misconduct or intoxication  of  the  officer,  civil  defense
                            -3-                LRB9006657EGfg
 1    worker,   civil   air   patrol  member,  paramedic,  fireman,
 2    chaplain, or State  employee  is  on  the  Attorney  General.
 3    Subject  to  the  conditions set forth in subsection (a) with
 4    respect  to  inclusion  under  this  Act  of  Department   of
 5    Corrections  employees  described in that subsection, for the
 6    purposes of this Act, instances in which  a  law  enforcement
 7    officer  receives  an  injury  in  the  active performance of
 8    duties as a law  enforcement  officer  include  but  are  not
 9    limited to instances when:
10             (1)  the  injury is received as a result of a wilful
11        act of violence committed other than by the officer and a
12        relationship exists between the commission  of  such  act
13        and  the  officer's  performance  of  his duties as a law
14        enforcement  officer,  whether  or  not  the  injury   is
15        received   while   the  officer  is  on  duty  as  a  law
16        enforcement officer;
17             (2)  the injury is received by the officer while the
18        officer is attempting to  prevent  the  commission  of  a
19        criminal  act  by  another  or attempting to apprehend an
20        individual the officer suspects has  committed  a  crime,
21        whether  or  not the injury is received while the officer
22        is on duty as a law enforcement officer and regardless of
23        any intoxication or conduct on the part  of  the  officer
24        that may have contributed to the injury;
25             (3)  the injury is received by the officer while the
26        officer  is travelling to or from his employment as a law
27        enforcement officer or during any meal  break,  or  other
28        break,  which  takes place during the period in which the
29        officer is on duty as a law enforcement officer.
30        (f)  "Volunteer fireman" means a person having  principal
31    employment other than as a fireman, but who is carried on the
32    rolls  of  a regularly constituted fire department either for
33    the purpose of the prevention  or  control  of  fire  or  the
34    underwater recovery of drowning victims, the members of which
                            -4-                LRB9006657EGfg
 1    are  under the jurisdiction of the corporate authorities of a
 2    city,  village,  incorporated  town,   or   fire   protection
 3    district,   and   includes  a  volunteer  member  of  a  fire
 4    department  organized  under  the  "General  Not  for  Profit
 5    Corporation Act", approved July 17, 1943, as now or hereafter
 6    amended, which is under  contract  with  any  city,  village,
 7    incorporated  town,  fire  protection  district,  or  persons
 8    residing  therein,  for  fire fighting services.   "Volunteer
 9    fireman"  does  not  mean  an   individual   who   volunteers
10    assistance without being regularly enrolled as a fireman.
11        (g)  "Civil  defense worker" means any person employed by
12    the State or a local governmental  entity  as,  or  otherwise
13    serving as, a member of a civil defense work force, including
14    volunteer  civil  defense  work forces engaged in serving the
15    public interest during periods of disaster,  whether  natural
16    or man-made.
17        (h)  "Civil  air patrol member" means any person employed
18    by the State or a local governmental entity as, or  otherwise
19    serving  as,  a  member of the organization commonly known as
20    the "Civil Air Patrol", including volunteer  members  of  the
21    organization commonly known as the "Civil Air Patrol".
22        (i)  "Paramedic"     means     an    Emergency    Medical
23    Technician-Paramedic certified by the Illinois Department  of
24    Public  Health  under  the  Emergency  Medical Services (EMS)
25    Systems  Act,  and  all  other  emergency  medical  personnel
26    certified by the Illinois Department of Public Health who are
27    members of an organized body  or  not-for-profit  corporation
28    under the jurisdiction of a city, village, incorporated town,
29    fire  protection  district or county, that provides emergency
30    medical treatment to persons of a defined geographical area.
31        (j)  "State employee" means any employee  as  defined  in
32    Section  14-103.05  of  the  Illinois Pension Code, as now or
33    hereafter amended.
34        (k)  "Chaplain" means an individual who:
                            -5-                LRB9006657EGfg
 1             (1)  is a chaplain of (i) a fire department or  (ii)
 2        a  police  department  or  other agency consisting of law
 3        enforcement officers; and
 4             (2)  has been designated a chaplain by (i) the  fire
 5        department,  police  department,  or  other  agency or an
 6        officer or body having jurisdiction over  the  department
 7        or  agency  or (ii) a labor organization representing the
 8        firemen or law enforcement officers.
 9    (Source: P.A. 89-323, eff. 1-1-96.)
10        (820 ILCS 315/5) (from Ch. 48, par. 285)
11        Sec. 5. Eligibility for other benefits; pre-emption.
12        (a)  The compensation provided for  in  this  Act  is  in
13    addition  to, and not exclusive of, any pension rights, death
14    benefits or other compensation otherwise payable by law.
15        (b)  A  law  enforcement  officer  employed  by  a  local
16    governmental entity who dies  as  the  result  of  an  injury
17    received on or after July 1, 1997 in the course of attempting
18    to  prevent  the  commission  of a criminal act by another or
19    attempting  to  apprehend  an  individual  whom  the  officer
20    suspects has committed a crime shall be deemed to  have  been
21    killed  in the line of duty, regardless of whether the injury
22    is received while the officer is on duty as a law enforcement
23    officer and regardless of any intoxication or conduct on  the
24    part  of the officer that may have contributed to the injury,
25    and the survivor or other beneficiary of the officer shall be
26    entitled to receive any benefits that are regularly  provided
27    by  the  local governmental entity in cases of death of a law
28    enforcement officer in the line of duty.
29        This subsection (b) requires payment, in  certain  cases,
30    of benefits already established and regularly paid by a local
31    governmental  entity  in  other  cases  of  death  of  a  law
32    enforcement  officer in the line of duty; it does not require
33    a local governmental entity to  pay  any  new  or  additional
                            -6-                LRB9006657EGfg
 1    benefit  not  regularly paid by the local governmental entity
 2    in other cases of death of a law enforcement officer  in  the
 3    line of duty and does not restrict the payment of benefits to
 4    the   circumstances   described  in  this  subsection.   This
 5    subsection (b) is a limitation  on  home  rule  powers  under
 6    subsection  (h)  of  Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois
 7    Constitution.
 8    (Source: P.A. 76-1602.)
 9        Section 90.  The State Mandates Act is amended by  adding
10    Section 8.22 as follows:
11        (30 ILCS 805/8.22 new)
12        Sec.  8.22.  Exempt  mandate.  Notwithstanding Sections 6
13    and 8 of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is  required
14    for  the  implementation  of  any  mandate  created  by  this
15    amendatory Act of 1998.
16        Section  99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect upon
17    becoming law.

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