Bill Text: IL SB3097 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Amends the Line of Duty Compensation Act. Provides that a claim for a death benefit for a death occurring after December 31, 2016 and before January 1, 2021 may be filed no later than December 31, 2021. Effective immediately.

Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2021-01-13 - Session Sine Die [SB3097 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-SB3097-Engrossed.html

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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 Section 3 as follows:
(820 ILCS 315/3) (from Ch. 48, par. 283)
Sec. 3. Duty death benefit.
(a) 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 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, 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, 2021 notwithstanding any other
deadline established under this Act with respect to filing a
claim for a duty death benefit.

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(b) The amount of compensation, except for an Armed Forces
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

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Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, for 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, 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, or State employee. If the law enforcement
officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member,
paramedic, fireman, chaplain, 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
parent of the decedent, but there are surviving brothers or
sisters, or descendants of a brother or sister, who were

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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
killed in the line of duty, the compensation shall be paid in
entirety according to the designation made on the most recent

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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, 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.
(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.

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(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 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

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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. 95-928, eff. 8-26-08; 96-539, eff. 1-1-10;
96-923, eff. 1-1-11.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.