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Public Act 096-0539
Public Act 0539 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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Public Act 096-0539 |
HB0022 Enrolled |
LRB096 03129 RLC 13145 b |
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| AN ACT concerning employment.
| WHEREAS, The State of Illinois is dedicated to the urgent | task of strengthening and expediting the national defense under | the emergent conditions which are threatening the peace and | security of this nation; and | WHEREAS, It is the considered judgment of the General | Assembly that the citizens of Illinois who respond to their | country's call to service are deserving of every benefit and | protection; and | WHEREAS, It is imperative that State government recognize | the State's citizens who have made the ultimate sacrifice to | protect the peace and security of this nation; and | WHEREAS, The Illinois Court of Claims should be equipped to | provide for and assist the survivors of fallen service members | by increasing accessibility to the Court of Claims and | providing outreach services to the community, which will serve | to educate survivors as to their benefits and protections under | State law; and | WHEREAS, By recognizing these sacrifices, the State of | Illinois encourages its citizens to participate to the fullest | extent in the national defense program and thereby heightens | the contribution of our State to the protection of our heritage |
| of liberty and democracy; therefore | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| represented in the General Assembly:
| Section 5. The Court of Claims Act is amended by changing | Section 24 and by adding Section 9.5 as follows: | (705 ILCS 505/9.5 new) | Sec. 9.5. Gold Star and Fallen Heroes Families Assistance | Program. | (a) Within the Court of Claims, there is established a Gold | Star and Fallen Heroes Families Assistance Program, which is | charged with the responsibility of assessing the needs of and | providing information to Illinois Gold Star and Fallen Heroes | Families with regard to claims filed pursuant to the Line of | Duty Compensation Act. | (b) As used in this Section, "Gold Star and Fallen Heroes | Family" means the family members of an
individual who was | killed in the line of duty and who was employed or serving in a | capacity defined in Section 2 of the Line of Duty Compensation | Act. | (c) Toll-free helpline. The Gold Star and Fallen Heroes | Families Assistance Program shall include a toll-free helpline | dedicated to families seeking information about the Line of | Duty Compensation Act, including, but not limited to, the |
| status of claims filed pursuant to that Act. The helpline phone | number and information about the Gold Star and Fallen Heroes | Families Assistance Program shall be provided to each person | filing a claim under the Line of Duty Compensation Act. | (d) On or before January 1 of each year, the Court of | Claims shall report to the Governor, both houses of the General | Assembly, and the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs the | following information: | (1) the number of claims filed with the Court of Claims | pursuant to the Line of Duty Compensation Act; | (2) the number of Line of Duty Compensation Act claims | approved for payment by the Court of Claims during the | preceding calendar year; | (3) the number and status of Line of Duty Compensation | Act claims pending in the Court of Claims; and | (4) other information as may be requested by the | Governor.
| (705 ILCS 505/24) (from Ch. 37, par. 439.24)
| Sec. 24. Payment of awards.
| (1) From funds appropriated by the General Assembly for the | purposes
of this Section the Court may direct
immediate payment | of:
| (a) All claims arising solely as a result of the | lapsing of an
appropriation out of which the obligation | could have been paid.
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| (b) All claims pursuant to the Line of Duty
| Compensation Act.
| (c) All claims pursuant to the "Illinois National | Guardsman's and
Naval Militiaman's Compensation Act", | approved August 12, 1971, as
amended.
| (d) All claims pursuant to the "Crime Victims | Compensation Act",
approved August 23, 1973, as amended.
| (e) All other claims wherein the amount of the award of | the Court
is less than $5,000.
| (2) The court may, from funds specifically appropriated | from the General
Revenue Fund for this purpose, direct the | payment of awards less than $50,000
solely as a result
of the | lapsing of an appropriation originally made from any fund held | by the
State Treasurer. For any such award paid from the | General Revenue Fund, the
court
shall thereafter seek an | appropriation from the fund from which the liability
originally | accrued in reimbursement of the General Revenue Fund.
| (3) In directing payment of a claim pursuant to the Line of | Duty
Compensation Act, the Court must direct the Comptroller to | add an interest penalty if payment of a claim is not made | within 6 months after a claim is filed in accordance with | Section 3 of the Line of Duty
Compensation Act and all | information has been submitted as required under Section 4 of | the Line of Duty
Compensation Act. If payment is not issued | within the 6-month period, an interest penalty of 1% of the | amount of the award shall be added for each month or fraction |
| thereof after the end of the 6-month period, until final | payment is made. This interest penalty shall be added | regardless of whether the payment is not issued within the | 6-month period because of the appropriation process, the | consideration of the matter by the Court, or any other reason. | (3.5) The interest penalty payment provided for in | subsection (3) shall be added to all claims for which benefits | were not paid as of the effective date of P.A. 95-928. The | interest penalty shall be calculated starting from the | effective date of P.A. 95-928, provided that the effective date | of P.A. 95-928 is at least 6 months after the date on which the | claim was filed in accordance with Section 3 of the Line of | Duty Compensation Act. In the event that the date 6 months | after the date on which the claim was filed is later than the | effective date of P.A. 95-928, the Court shall calculate the | interest payment penalty starting from the date 6 months after | the date on which the claim was filed in accordance with | Section 3 of the Line of Duty Compensation Act. This subsection | (3.5) of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly is | declarative of existing law. | (3.6) In addition to the interest payments provided for in | subsections (3) and (3.5), the Court shall direct the | Comptroller to add a "catch-up" payment to the claims of | eligible claimants. For the purposes of this subsection (3.6), | an "eligible claimant" is a claimant whose claim is not paid in | the year in which it was filed. For purposes of this subsection |
| (3.6), "'catch-up' payment" is defined as the difference | between the amount paid to claimants whose claims were filed in | the year in which the eligible claimant's claim is paid and the | amount paid to claimants whose claims were filed in the year in | which the eligible claimant filed his or her claim. The | "catch-up" payment is payable simultaneously with the claim | award. | (4)
(3) From funds appropriated by the General Assembly for | the purposes of
paying claims under paragraph (c) of Section 8, | the court must direct payment
of each claim and the payment | must be received by the claimant within 60 days after the date | that the funds are appropriated for that purpose.
| (Source: P.A. 95-928, eff. 8-26-08; 95-970, eff. 9-22-08; | revised 10-14-08.)
| Section 10. The Line of Duty Compensation Act is amended by | changing Sections 3 and 4 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.
| (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 | 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 | 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 | 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.
| (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 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 | 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. 94-843, eff. 6-8-06; 94-844, eff. 6-8-06; 95-928, | eff. 8-26-08.)
| (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, 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,
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, 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, 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, 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 | 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. 93-1047, eff. 10-18-04.)
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Effective Date: 1/1/2010
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