Bill Text: IL HB4270 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Line of Duty Compensation Act. Includes emergency medical services personnel within the scope of the Act. Defines terms. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-31 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB4270 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB4270-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB4270 Introduced , by Rep. Wayne A Rosenthal SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
820 ILCS 315/2 from Ch. 48, par. 282
820 ILCS 315/3 from Ch. 48, par. 283
820 ILCS 315/4 from Ch. 48, par. 284
Amends the Line of Duty Compensation Act. Includes emergency medical services personnel within the scope of the Act. Defines terms. Effective immediately.
LRB103 35807 SPS 65891 b
A BILL FOR
HB4270 LRB103 35807 SPS 65891 b
AN ACT concerning employment.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Line of Duty Compensation Act is amended by
changing Sections 2, 3, and 4 as follows:
(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, aftercare specialists,
school teachers and correctional counsellors in all facilities
of both the Department of Corrections and the Department of
Juvenile Justice, while within the facilities under the
control of the Department of Corrections or the Department of
Juvenile Justice 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 or

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Department of Juvenile Justice employees who have daily
contact with inmates. For the purposes of this Act, "law
enforcement officer" or "officer" also means a probation
officer, as defined in Section 9b of the Probation and
Probation Officers Act.
The death of the foregoing employees of the Department of
Corrections or the Department of Juvenile Justice in order to
be included herein must be by the direct or indirect willful
act of an inmate, ward, work-releasee, parolee, aftercare
releasee, parole violator, aftercare release violator, person
under conditional release, or any person sentenced or
committed, or otherwise subject to confinement in or to the
Department of Corrections or the Department of Juvenile
Justice.
(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

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duties as a law enforcement officer, civil defense worker,
civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, or chaplain, or
emergency medical services personnel 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, emergency medical
services personnel, 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, emergency medical services
personnel, 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 and Department of Juvenile Justice 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

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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 the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on
the United States, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation
Freedom's Sentinel, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New
Dawn, or Operation Inherent Resolve.
(f) "Volunteer fireman" means a person having principal

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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

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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

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pursuant to an order of the President of the United States.
(m) "Emergency Medical Services personnel" has the meaning
set forth in Section 3.5 of the Emergency Medical Services
(EMS) Systems Act.
(Source: P.A. 102-221, eff. 1-1-22.)
(820 ILCS 315/3) (from Ch. 48, par. 283)
Sec. 3. Duty death benefit.
(a) If a claim therefor is made within 2 years of the date
of death of a law enforcement officer, civil defense worker,
civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain,
emergency medical services personnel, or State employee killed
in the line of duty, or if a claim therefor is made within 2
years of the date of death of an 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,
emergency medical services personnel, State employee, or Armed
Forces member. However, if the Armed Forces member was killed
in the line of duty before October 18, 2004, the claim must be
made within one year of October 18, 2004. In addition, if a
death occurred after December 31, 2016 and before January 1,
2021, the claim may be made no later than December 31, 2022
notwithstanding any other deadline established under this Act
with respect to filing a claim for a duty death benefit.
(b) The amount of compensation, except for an Armed Forces

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member, 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 July 1,
2002; and $259,038 if the death occurred on or after July 1,
2002 and before January 1, 2003. For an Armed Forces member
killed in the line of duty (i) at any time before January 1,
2005, the compensation is $259,038 plus amounts equal to the
increases for 2003 and 2004 determined under subsection (c)
and (ii) on or after January 1, 2005, the compensation is the
amount determined under item (i) plus the applicable increases
for 2005 and thereafter determined under subsection (c).
(c) Except as provided in subsection (b), 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

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the 12 months ending with the month of June of that previous
calendar year.
(d) If no beneficiary is designated or if no designated
beneficiary survives at the death of the law enforcement
officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member,
paramedic, fireman, chaplain, emergency medical services
personnel, or State employee killed in the line of duty, the
compensation shall be paid in accordance with a legally
binding will left by the law enforcement officer, civil
defense worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman,
chaplain, emergency medical services personnel, or State
employee. If the law enforcement officer, civil defense
worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain,
emergency medical services personnel, or State employee did
not leave a legally binding will, the compensation shall be
paid as follows:
(1) when there is a surviving spouse, the entire sum
shall be paid to the spouse;
(2) 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;
(3) 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
(4) when there is no surviving spouse, descendant or

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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.
The changes made to this subsection (d) by this amendatory Act
of the 94th General Assembly apply to any pending case as long
as compensation has not been paid to any party before the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General
Assembly.
(d-1) For purposes of subsection (d), in the case of a
person killed in the line of duty who was born out of wedlock
and was not an adoptive child at the time of the person's
death, a person shall be deemed to be a parent of the person
killed in the line of duty only if that person would be an
eligible parent, as defined in Section 2-2 of the Probate Act
of 1975, of the person killed in the line of duty. This
subsection (d-1) applies to any pending claim if compensation
was not paid to the claimant of the pending claim before the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General
Assembly.
(d-2) If no beneficiary is designated or if no designated
beneficiary survives at the death of the Armed Forces member

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killed in the line of duty, the compensation shall be paid in
entirety according to the designation made on the most recent
version of the Armed Forces member's Servicemembers' Group
Life Insurance Election and Certificate ("SGLI").
If no SGLI form exists at the time of the Armed Forces
member's death, the compensation shall be paid in accordance
with a legally binding will left by the Armed Forces member.
If no SGLI form exists for the Armed Forces member and the
Armed Forces member did not leave a legally binding will, the
compensation shall be paid to the persons and in the priority
as set forth in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection (d) of
this Section.
This subsection (d-2) applies to any pending case as long
as compensation has not been paid to any party before the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General
Assembly.
(e) If there is no beneficiary designated or if no
designated beneficiary survives at the death of the law
enforcement officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol
member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, emergency medical
services personnel, State employee, or Armed Forces member
killed in the line of duty and there is no other person or
entity to whom compensation is payable under this Section, no
compensation shall be payable under this Act.
(f) No part of such compensation may be paid to any other
person for any efforts in securing such compensation.

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(g) This amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly
applies to claims made on or after October 18, 2004 with
respect to an Armed Forces member killed in the line of duty.
(h) In any case for which benefits have not been paid
within 6 months of the claim being filed in accordance with
this Section, which is pending as of the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, and in which
there are 2 or more beneficiaries, at least one of whom would
receive at least a portion of the total benefit regardless of
the manner in which the Court of Claims resolves the claim, the
Court shall direct the Comptroller to pay the minimum amount
of money which the determinate beneficiary would receive
together with all interest payment penalties which have
accrued on that portion of the award being paid within 30 days
of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th
General Assembly. For purposes of this subsection (h),
"determinate beneficiary" means the beneficiary who would
receive any portion of the total benefit claimed regardless of
the manner in which the Court of Claims adjudicates the claim.
(i) The Court of Claims shall ensure that all individuals
who have filed an application to claim the duty death benefit
for a deceased member of the Armed Forces pursuant to this
Section or for a fireman pursuant to this Section, or their
designated representative, shall have access, on a timely
basis and in an efficient manner, to all information related
to the court's consideration, processing, or adjudication of

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the claim, including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) a reliable estimate of when the Court of Claims
will adjudicate the claim, or if the Court cannot estimate
when it will adjudicate the claim, a full written
explanation of the reasons for this inability; and
(2) a reliable estimate, based upon consultation with
the Comptroller, of when the benefit will be paid to the
claimant.
(j) The Court of Claims shall send written notice to all
claimants within 2 weeks of the initiation of a claim
indicating whether or not the application is complete. For
purposes of this subsection (j), an application is complete if
a claimant has submitted to the Court of Claims all documents
and information the Court requires for adjudicating and paying
the benefit amount. For purposes of this subsection (j), a
claim for the duty death benefit is initiated when a claimant
submits any of the application materials required for
adjudicating the claim to the Court of Claims. In the event a
claimant's application is incomplete, the Court shall include
in its written notice a list of the information or documents
which the claimant must submit in order for the application to
be complete. In no case may the Court of Claims deny a claim
and subsequently re-adjudicate the same claim for the purpose
of evading or reducing the interest penalty payment amount
payable to any claimant.
(Source: P.A. 102-215, eff. 7-30-21; 103-8, eff. 6-7-23.)

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(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, emergency
medical services personnel, 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, emergency
medical services personnel, 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, emergency medical
services personnel, 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

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the officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol
member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, emergency medical
services personnel, 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.
For the 2 years immediately following the effective date
of this amendatory act of the 96th General Assembly, the Court
of Claims shall direct the Comptroller to pay a
"Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty Benefit" to eligible late
claimants who file a claim for the benefit. A claim for a
Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty Benefit must include all the
application materials and documents required for all other
claims payable under this Act, except as otherwise provided in
this Section 4. For purposes of this Section 4 only, an
"eligible late claimant" is a person who would have been
eligible, at any time after September 11, 2001, to apply for
and receive payment of a claim pursuant to this Act in
connection with the death of an Armed Forces member killed in
the line of duty or a fireman killed in the line of duty, but
did not receive the award payment because:
(1) the claim was rejected only because the claim was
not filed within the time limitation set forth in

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subsection (a) of Section 3 of this Act; or
(2) having met all other preconditions for applying
for and receiving the award payment, the claimant did not
file a claim because the claim would not have been filed
within the time limitation set forth in subsection (a) of
Section 3 of this Act. For purposes of this Section 4 only,
the "Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty Benefit" is an
amount of money payable to eligible late claimants equal
to the amount set forth in Section 3 of this Act payable to
claimants seeking payment of awards under Section 3 of
this Act for claims made thereunder in the year in which
the claim for the Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty
Benefit is made. Within 6 months of receiving a complete
claim for the Modified-Eligibility Line of Duty Benefit,
the Court of Claims must direct the Comptroller to pay the
benefit amount to the eligible late claimant.
(Source: P.A. 96-539, eff. 1-1-10; 96-923, eff. 1-1-11.)