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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 18, 2014 09:13 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Eli Evankovich |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Third Class City Pension Fix |
| In the near future I will be introducing a bill that will move 3rd class city killed-in-action benefits under Act 51 of 2009. In 2009, we passed a law stating that payment to the surviving spouse or minor children of a law enforcement officer or paid firefighter, ambulance service, rescue squad member, or member of a HazMat team who is killed in the line of duty is a responsibility of the Commonwealth. At the time, the intent was to include third class cities in the list of municipalities covered by Act 51. However, this did not occur. When the General Assembly worked on Act 51, it realized that municipalities faced significant financial strain with meeting the costs associated with killed-in-action benefits. Now, through my bill, we must relieve our third class cities of the same burden. My bill will guarantee that equal treatment is extended to the spouses and children of third class city emergency responders and law enforcement. It will ensure that the beneficiaries will receive payment equal to the final average salary that was received by the deceased individual. This bill will also ease the burden on small municipal pension systems dealing with killed-in-action benefits. The payments to the beneficiaries will follow the same formula as all other municipalities currently covered by Act 51. This includes an offset of any pension or worker’s compensation owed to the beneficiaries by the municipality, thereby leaving the Commonwealth responsible only for the difference between those benefits paid by the municipality and 100% of the final average salary. This salary payment is in addition to the $100,000 that is paid to the spouse or minor children of the deceased. Please join me in extending what we provided to most municipalities via Act 51 to our struggling third class cities. |
Introduced as HB79