Republican State Representative Jerry Stern is supporting a key change to Pennsylvania’s Emergency and Law Enforcement Personnel Death Benefits Act.
The law was originally passed in 1976 as Act 101 and is otherwise known as “in the line of duty” legislation. Act 101 provides for a one-time payment of death benefits to the surviving spouse, children, or parents of firefighters, ambulance or rescue squad members, and law enforcement officers killed in the performance of their duties. The death must be causally related to the performance of duties.
Stern and other legislators want to revise just what is considered as a cause of death related to a responder’s carrying out their duties.
“The new provision would include death caused by a heart attack or stoke within 24 hours from performance of duties,” Stern told The Daily Herald.
“In the past, the Governor’s Office of Administration has sometimes rejected these claims based on stress and strain of the job,” said Stern. “The provision moved through committee a couple of weeks ago and passed. It will now move to the House floor and I plan on supporting it there as well.
“I think this is an important provision because it will now put us on the same level as the federal government which recently changed the law,” said the legislator. “The federal law was changed late last year to include benefits for responders who died as a result of heart attack or stroke in the line of duty.
“This not only includes the suffering of a stroke or heart attack at the scene of an emergency but will also include something that might happen at training sessions or even on the way to the scene,” said Representative Stern.
Some of the key points of the existing act include the Commonwealth paying the political subdivision for which the deceased worked. The political subdivision is responsible for making payment to the beneficiaries. The benefit was set at $50,000 in 1994 and is adjusted annually for inflation using the Consumer Price Index. The benefit amount for fiscal year 2003-2004 is $62,036.
The state also has several other programs available to aid those surviving someone killed in the line of duty. Those programs include Pennsylvania\’s Workers\’ Compensation laws which provide assistance with burial expenses and continuance of a portion of the deceased’s wages to a surviving spouse and/or child(ren). It’s important to note anyone applying for Act 101 benefits must submit proof that a Workers’ Compensation Claim has been filed; however, approval of the Act 101 claim is not contingent upon approval of a Workers’ Compensation claim.
Surviving children of firefighters, policemen, ambulance and rescue squad members, corrections officers, and active National Guard members killed in the line of duty may be entitled to fully-paid tuition benefits through the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), Postsecondary Education Gratuity Program. Tuition benefits may be used to attend Pennsylvania community colleges, state-owned universities, and state-related colleges and universities. Children must be 25 years of age or younger, residents of Pennsylvania, working toward an undergraduate degree, and meet other requirements.
There are also a variety of programs available on a federal level to help survivors and those who become disabled in the line of duty. Those programs include a one-time death benefit of $250,000 as of October 2001 and is adjusted annually for inflation using the Consumer Price Index. It should be noted there are different benefit effective dates for various classes of personnel.
Educational assistance is also available at the federal level in the form of the Public Safety Officers’ Educational Assistance (PSOEA) Act, which provides higher educational assistance for spouses and children of federal, state, and local public safety officers killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty.
