FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 551
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Reported from the Committee on Small Business, Insurance and Industrial Relations, April 26, 2007, with recommendation that the Senate Committee Substitute do pass.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
1504S.05C
AN ACT
To amend chapter 287, RSMo, by adding thereto two new sections relating to compensation for public safety workers killed in the line of duty.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 287, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto two new sections, to be known as sections 287.243 and 287.245, to read as follows:
287.243. 1. Sections 287.243 and 287.245 shall be known and may be cited as the "Line of Duty Compensation Act".
2. As used in sections 287.243 and 287.245, unless otherwise provided, the following words shall mean:
(1) "Aviation medical crew member", a person serving as a flight paramedic, a flight nurse, or as a pilot in command;
(2) "Department of corrections employee" or "juvenile justice employee", supervisors, wardens, superintendents and their assistants, guards and keepers, correctional officers, youth supervisors, parole agents, school teachers, correctional counselors, or any employee having daily contact with inmates in any facility of either the department of corrections or within the juvenile justice system;
(3) "Emergency medical technician", a person licensed in emergency medical care in accordance with standards prescribed by sections 190.001 to 190.245, RSMo, and by rules adopted by the department of health and senior services under sections 190.001 to 190.245, RSMo;
(4) "Firefighter", any person, including a volunteer firefighter, 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;
(5) "Killed in the line of duty", when any individual defined in this section loses one's life as a result of injury received in the active performance of duties in his or her respective profession, if the death occurs within one year from the date the injury was received and if that injury arose from violence of another or accidental cause subject to the provisions of paragraph (a) and (b) of this subdivision. The term excludes death resulting from the willful misconduct or intoxication of the officer, emergency medical technician, paramedic, firefighter, aviation medical crew member, juvenile justice employee, or department of corrections employee. The division of workers' compensation shall have the burden of proving such willful misconduct or intoxication;
(a) For juvenile justice employees and department of corrections employees, the death shall be caused by the direct or indirect willful act of an inmate, work releasee, parolee, parole violator, person under conditional release, or any person sentenced or committed, or otherwise subject to confinement by the department of corrections or juvenile justice employees while the individual is within the facilities under the control of the department of corrections or the juvenile justice system, the individual is in the act of transporting inmates from one location to another, or the individual is performing any other official duty;
(b) For firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical technicians, aviation medical crew members, and paramedics, the death shall be caused as a result of a willful act of violence committed by a person other than the officer, firefighter, emergency medical technician, aviation medical crew member, or paramedic, and a relationship exists between the commission of such act and the individual's performance of his or her duties as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, emergency medical technician, aviation medical crew member, or paramedic, regardless of whether the injury is received while the individual is on duty; the injury is received by a law enforcement officer while he or she is attempting to prevent the commission of a criminal act of another person or attempting to apprehend an individual suspected of committing a crime, regardless of whether the injury is received while the individual is on duty as a law enforcement officer; or the injury is received by the individual while traveling to or from his or her employment or during any meal break, or other break, which takes place during the period in which the law enforcement officer, firefighter, emergency medical technician, aviation medical crew member, or paramedic is on duty;
(6) "Law enforcement officer" or "officer", 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;
(7) "Local governmental entity", includes counties, municipalities, fire protection districts, and municipal corporations;
(8) "Paramedic", an emergency medical technician paramedic certified by the department of health and senior services of the state;
(9) "State", the state of Missouri and its departments, divisions, boards, bureaus, commissions, authorities, and colleges and universities;
(10) "Volunteer firefighter", a person having principal employment other than as a firefighter, 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. Volunteer firefighter shall not mean an individual who volunteers assistance without being regularly enrolled as a firefighter.
3. (1) A claim for compensation under this section shall be filed with the division of workers' compensation not later than one year from the date of death of a law enforcement officer, emergency medical technician, paramedic, aviation medical crew member, firefighter, juvenile justice employee, or department of corrections employee killed in the line of duty. A claim may be filed by a dependent or spouse of the deceased, or if such person is an incapacitated or disabled person, or a minor, by the person's parent, conservator, or guardian on behalf of the eligible claimant. If a claim is made within one year of the date of death of a law enforcement officer, emergency medical technician, paramedic, aviation medical crew member, firefighter, juvenile justice employee, or department of corrections employee killed in the line of duty, compensation shall be paid, if the claim is found to be valid, by the division of workers' compensation from the line of duty compensation fund established in section 287.245 to the person designated by the law enforcement officer, emergency medical technician, paramedic, aviation medical crew member, firefighter, juvenile justice employee, or department of corrections employee.
(2) The amount of compensation paid to the spouse or dependent shall be one hundred thousand dollars, subject to appropriations, paid from the line of duty compensation fund established in section 287.245 for death occurring on or after January 1, 2009.
4. A burial benefit of up to a maximum of ten thousand dollars, subject to appropriations paid from the line of duty compensation fund established under section 287.245, shall be payable to the surviving spouse, dependent, or estate of a law enforcement officer, firefighter, emergency medical technician, paramedic, aviation medical crew member, juvenile justice employee, or department of corrections employee, who is killed in the line of duty on or after the effective date of this section.
5. Notwithstanding subsection 3 of this section, no compensation is payable under this section unless a claim is filed within the time specified under this section setting forth:
(1) The name, address, and title or designation of the position in which the officer, emergency medical technician, paramedic, aviation medical crew member, firefighter, juvenile justice employee, or department of corrections employee was serving at the time of his or her death;
(2) The names and addresses of the dependents or spouse making a claim to receive the compensation, or if there has been no such designation, the name and address of the personal representative of the deceased;
(3) A full, factual account of the circumstances resulting in or the course of events causing the death at issue; and
(4) Such other information that is reasonably required by the division.
When a claim is filed, the division of workers' compensation shall make an investigation for substantiation of matters set forth in the application.
6. The compensation provided for under this section is in addition to, and not exclusive of, any pension rights, death benefits, or other compensation the claimant may otherwise be entitled to by law.
7. Any person seeking compensation under the provisions of sections 287.243 and 287.245, who is aggrieved by the decision of the division of workers' compensation regarding his or her compensation claim, may make application for a hearing as provided in section 287.450. The procedures applicable to the processing of such hearings and determinations shall be those established by this chapter. Decisions of the administrative law judge under this section shall be binding, subject to review by either party under the provisions of section 287.480.
8. Under section 23.253, RSMo, of the Missouri Sunset Act:
(1) The provisions of the new program authorized under this section shall automatically sunset six years after the effective date of this section unless reauthorized by an act of the general assembly; and
(2) If such program is reauthorized, the program authorized under this section shall automatically sunset twelve years after the effective date of the reauthorization of this section; and
(3) This section shall terminate on September first of the calendar year immediately following the calendar year in which the program authorized under this section is sunset.
287.245. 1. There is hereby established in the state treasury, the "Line of Duty Compensation Fund". Funds transferred to the line of duty compensation fund shall be made from general revenue and appropriated solely for the purpose set out in section 287.243. The state treasurer shall be custodian of the fund and may approve disbursements from the fund in accordance with sections 30.170 and 30.180, RSMo. The state treasurer shall invest moneys in the fund in the same manner as other funds are invested. Any interest and moneys earned on such investments shall be credited to the fund.
2. The division of workers' compensation shall annually submit to the governor and members of the general assembly by February first of each year, a report containing a full and complete account of compensation payments made from the line of duty compensation fund.
3. All compensation paid under sections 287.243 and 287.245 and all appropriations for administration of sections 287.243 and 287.245 shall be made from the line of duty compensation fund. Any unexpended balance remaining in the line of duty compensation fund at the end of each biennium shall not be subject to the provisions of section 33.080, RSMo, requiring the transfer of such unexpended balance to the general revenue fund of the state, but shall remain in the line of duty compensation fund. In the event that there are insufficient funds in the line of duty compensation fund to pay all claims in full, all claims shall be paid on a pro rata basis. If there are no funds in the line of duty compensation fund, then no claim shall be paid until funds have again accumulated in the line of duty compensation fund. When sufficient funds become available from the fund, compensation which has not been paid shall be paid in chronological order with the oldest paid first. In the event compensation was to be paid in installments and some remaining installments have not been paid due to a lack of funds, then when funds do become available, that compensation shall be paid in full. All such compensation on which installments remain due shall be paid in full in chronological order before any other postdated compensation shall be paid. Any compensation pursuant to this subsection is specifically not a claim against the state if it cannot be paid due to a lack of funds in the line of duty compensation fund.
4. Any gifts, contributions, grants, or federal funds specifically given to the division of workers' compensation for the benefit of claimants under sections 287.243 and 287.245 shall be credited to the line of duty compensation fund.
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