HB-4821, As Passed House, October 10, 2007

SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL NO. 4821

     A bill to amend 2004 PA 46, entitled

"Public safety officers benefit act,"

by amending the title and section 2 (MCL 28.632) and by adding

section 4a.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

TITLE

     An act to provide compensation and other benefits to

dependents of public safety officers who are killed or who are

permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty; to create the

public safety officers benefit fund; to prescribe the duties and

responsibilities of certain state officers; and to make an

appropriation.

     Sec. 2. As used in this act:

     (a) "Commission" means the commission on law enforcement

standards created under the commission on law enforcement standards

act, 1965 PA 203, MCL 28.601 to 28.616.

     (b) "Dependent" means any individual who was substantially

reliant for support upon the income of the deceased public safety

officer.

     (c) "Direct and proximate" means that the antecedent event is

a substantial factor in the result.

     (d) "Emergency first responder" means an individual licensed

under section 20950 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL

333.20950.

(e) (d) "Firefighter" means a regularly employed member of a

fire department of a city, county, township, village, state

university, or community college or a member of the department of

natural resources who is employed to fight fires. Firefighter

includes a volunteer member of a fire department.

(f) (e) "Law enforcement officer" means an individual involved

in crime and juvenile delinquency control or reduction or

enforcement of the criminal law. Law enforcement officer includes

police, corrections, probation, parole, bailiffs, or other similar

court officers.

(g) (f) "Line of duty" means either of the following:

     (i) Any action which an officer whose primary function is crime

control or reduction, enforcement of the criminal law, or

suppression of fires is obligated or authorized by rule,

regulations, condition of employment or service, or law to perform,

including those social, ceremonial, or athletic functions to which

the officer is assigned, or for which the officer is compensated,

House Bill No. 4821 (H-3) as amended October 10, 2007

by the public agency he or she serves. For other officers, line of

duty means any action the officer is so obligated or authorized to

perform in the course or controlling or reducing crime, enforcing

the criminal law, or suppressing fires.

     (ii) Any action which an officially recognized or designated

public employee member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew is

obligated or authorized by rule, regulation, condition of

employment or service, or law to perform.

(h) (g) "Member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew" means an

officially recognized or designated employee or volunteer member of

a rescue squad or ambulance crew.

(i) (h) "Permanent and total disability" means medically

determinable consequences of a catastrophic, line-of-duty injury

that permanently prevent a former public safety officer from

performing any gainful work.

(j) (i) "Public safety officer" means any individual serving a

public agency in an official capacity, with or without

compensation, as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, emergency

first responder, rescue squad member, or ambulance crew member.

(k) (j) "Surviving spouse" means the husband or wife of the

deceased officer at the time of the officer's death, and includes a

spouse living apart from the officer at the time of the officer's

death for any reason.

     Sec. 4a. [(1)] If a firefighter, law enforcement officer, or

emergency first responder dies in the line of duty [on or after the

effective date of the amendatory act that added this section], the state shall

provide to the surviving spouse and the decedent's dependents

health insurance comparable to, and on comparable terms to, the

House Bill No. 4821 (H-3) as amended October 10, 2007

insurance coverage the decedent received from any source at the

time of his or her death. Coverage provided under this section

shall end for a spouse if he or she qualifies for and obtains

comparable health insurance from another source. Coverage provided

under this section shall end for a nonspouse dependent upon the

occurrence of any of the following:

     (a) The dependent qualifies for and obtains comparable health

insurance from another source.

     (b) The later of the dependent's eighteenth birthday or, if he

or she is enrolled as a full-time student in high school or an

accredited university or college, his or her twenty-sixth birthday.

[(2) The state shall also provide health coverage on the terms indicated in subsection (1) to the spouse and dependents of a law enforcement officer who died in the line of duty between October 1, 2003 and August 1, 2007 and whose surviving spouse and dependent health coverage was not continued by the public agency he or she served.]