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PRINTER'S NO. 417
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
439
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY REGAN, BAKER, BARTOLOTTA, BLAKE, BREWSTER, COSTA,
DINNIMAN, FONTANA, KILLION, MENSCH, STEFANO, TARTAGLIONE,
K. WARD AND YUDICHAK, MARCH 13, 2019
REFERRED TO VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS,
MARCH 13, 2019
AN ACT
Amending the act of June 28, 1935 (P.L.477, No.193), entitled
"An act providing for the payment of the salary, medical and
hospital expenses of certain employes of State and local
government who are injured or contract certain diseases in
the performance of their duty; and providing that absence
during such injury shall not reduce any usual sick leave
period," further providing for disability benefits and for
definitions.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Sections 1 and 2.1 of the act of June 28, 1935
(P.L.477, No.193), referred to as the Enforcement Officer
Disability Benefits Law, are amended to read:
Section 1. (a) Be it enacted, &c., That:
(1) any member of the State Police Force;
(2) any enforcement officer or investigator employed by the
Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board;
(3) the parole agents, enforcement officers and
investigators of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole;
(4) Capitol Police officers;
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(4.1) campus police officers employed by a participating
university;
(5) correction employes employed by the Department of
Corrections, whose principal duty is the care, custody and
control of inmates;
(5.1) commissioned police officers employed by the
Department of Corrections, Bureau of Investigations and
Intelligence;
(6) psychiatric security aides employed by the Department of
Human Services and the Department of Corrections, whose
principal duty is the care, custody, and control of the
criminally insane;
(7) drug enforcement agents of the Office of Attorney
General whose principal duty is the enforcement of the drug laws
of the Commonwealth;
(8) special agents of the Office of Attorney General whose
principal duty is the enforcement of the criminal laws of the
Commonwealth;
(9) any member of the Delaware River Port Authority Police;
(10) any policeman, fireman or park guard of any county,
city, borough, town or township;
(10.1) firemen employed by the Commonwealth;
(11) any sheriff or deputy sheriff; [or]
(12) any enforcement officer or investigator of the
Pennsylvania Game Commission or the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat
Commission;
(13) DCNR Rangers, DCNR Ranger Supervisors, DCNR Ranger
Operations Specialists and DCNR Ranger Trainees employed by the
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources;
(14) members of the Fort Indiantown Gap Police;
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(15) investigative staff of the Office of Inspector General;
(16) members of the Allegheny County Port Authority Police;
(17) members of the Allegheny County Housing Authority
Police; or
(18) corrections officers or jail guards employed by a
participating county and whose principal duty is the care,
custody and control of inmates;
who is injured in the performance of his duties including, in
the case of firemen, duty as special fire police, and by reason
thereof is temporarily incapacitated from performing his duties,
shall be paid by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania if an employe
identified under paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), (4.1), (5),
(5.1), (6), (7), (8) [or], (12), (13), (14) or (15) or by the
Delaware River Port Authority if a member of the Delaware River
Port Authority Police or by the participating university if a
campus police officer or by the Allegheny County Port Authority
if a member of the Allegheny County Port Authority Police or by
the Allegheny County Housing Authority if a member of the
Allegheny County Housing Authority Police or by the county,
city, township or municipality, by which he is employed, his
full rate of salary, as fixed by ordinance or resolution, until
the disability arising therefrom has ceased. All medical and
hospital bills, incurred in connection with any such injury,
shall be paid by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or by the
Delaware River Port Authority or by the participating university
or by the Allegheny County Port Authority or by the Allegheny
County Housing Authority or by such county, township or
municipality. During the time salary for temporary incapacity
shall be paid by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or by the
Delaware River Port Authority or by the participating university
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or by the Allegheny County Port Authority or by the Allegheny
County Housing Authority or by the county, city, borough, town
or township, any workmen's compensation, received or collected
by any such employe for such period, shall be turned over to the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or to the Delaware River Port
Authority or to the participating university or to the Allegheny
County Port Authority or to the Allegheny County Housing
Authority or to such county, city, borough, town or township,
and paid into the treasury thereof, and if such payment shall
not be so made by the employe the amount so due the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, the Delaware River Port Authority or the
participating university or the Allegheny County Port Authority
or the Allegheny County Housing Authority or the county, city,
borough, town or township shall be deducted from any salary then
or thereafter becoming due and owing.
(b) In the case of:
(1) the State Police Force;
(2) enforcement officers and investigators employed by the
Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board;
(3) the parole agents, enforcement officers and
investigators of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole;
(4) Capitol Police officers;
(4.1) campus police officers employed by a participating
university;
(5) correction employes employed by the Department of
Corrections, whose principal duty is the care, custody and
control of inmates;
(5.1) commissioned police officers employed by the
Department of Corrections, Bureau of Investigations and
Intelligence;
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(6) psychiatric security aides employed by the Department of
Human Services and the Department of Corrections whose principal
duty is the care, custody, and control of the criminally insane;
(7) drug enforcement agents of the Office of Attorney
General whose principal duty is the enforcement of the drug laws
of the Commonwealth;
(8) special agents of the Office of Attorney General whose
principal duty is the enforcement of the criminal laws of the
Commonwealth;
(9) members of the Delaware River Port Authority Police;
(10) salaried policemen and firemen;
(10.1) firemen employed by the Commonwealth;
(11) sheriffs and deputy sheriffs; [and]
(12) enforcement officers and investigators of the
Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat
Commission;
(13) DCNR Rangers, DCNR Ranger Supervisors, DCNR Ranger
Operations Specialists and DCNR Ranger Trainees employed by the
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources;
(14) members of the Fort Indiantown Gap Police;
(15) investigative staff of the Office of Inspector General;
(16) members of the Allegheny County Port Authority Police;
(17) members of the Allegheny County Housing Authority
Police; and
(18) corrections officers or jail guards employed by a
participating county and whose principal duty is the care,
custody and control of inmates;
who have served for four consecutive years or longer, diseases
of the heart and tuberculosis of the respiratory system,
contracted or incurred by any of them after four years of
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continuous service as such, and caused by extreme overexertion
in times of stress or danger or by exposure to heat, smoke,
fumes or gases, arising directly out of the employment shall be
compensable in accordance with the terms hereof; and unless any
such disability shall be compensable under the compensation laws
as having been caused by accidental injury, such disability
shall be compensable as occupational disease disabilities are
presently compensable under the compensation laws of this
Commonwealth. It shall be presumed that tuberculosis of the
respiratory system contracted or incurred after four consecutive
years of service was contracted or incurred as a direct result
of employment.
(c) In the case of any person receiving benefits pursuant to
this act, the statutes of limitations set forth in sections
306.1, 315, 413, and 434 of the act of June 2, 1915 (P.L.736,
No.338), known as the "Workers' Compensation Act," shall not
begin to run until the expiration of the receipt of benefits
pursuant to this act.
(d) (1) All payments herein required to be made by the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on account of any member of the
State Police Force shall be made from moneys appropriated to the
Pennsylvania State Police.
(2) Any payments required to be made on account of any
enforcement officer or investigator employed by the Pennsylvania
Liquor Control Board shall be made from appropriations out of
the State Stores Fund.
(3) Any payments required to be made on account of any
parole agent, enforcement officer or investigator employed by
the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole shall be made
from moneys appropriated to the Pennsylvania Board of Probation
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and Parole.
(4) Any payments required to be made on account of Capitol
Police officers shall be made from moneys appropriated to the
Department of General Services.
(5) Any payments required to be made on account of any
correction employe or any commissioned police officer employed
by the Department of Corrections, Bureau of Investigations and
Intelligence, shall be made from moneys appropriated to the
Department of Corrections.
(6) Any payments required to be made on account of any
psychiatric security aides shall be made from moneys
appropriated to the Department of Human Services or the
Department of Corrections where appropriate.
(6.1) Any payments required to be made on account of any
campus police officers employed by a participating university
shall be made from moneys appropriated to the participating
university.
(6.2) Any payments required to be made on account of any
DCNR Rangers, DCNR Ranger Supervisors, DCNR Ranger Operations
Specialists and DCNR Ranger Trainees employed by the Department
of Conservation and Natural Resources shall be made from moneys
appropriated to the Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources.
(6.3) Any payments required to be made on account of any
members of the Fort Indiantown Gap Police Force employed by the
Department of Military and Veterans Affairs shall be made from
moneys appropriated to the Department of Military and Veterans
Affairs.
(6.4) Any payments required to be made on account of any
investigative staff of the Office of Inspector General shall be
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made from moneys appropriated to the Office of Inspector
General.
(6.5) Any payments required to be made on account of any
members of the Allegheny County Port Authority Police shall be
made from any moneys appropriated to the Allegheny County Port
Authority.
(6.6) Any payments required to be made on account of any
members of the Allegheny County Housing Authority Police shall
be made from any moneys appropriated to the Allegheny County
Housing Authority.
(7) Any payments required to be made on account of any drug
enforcement agent or special agents shall be made from moneys
appropriated to the Office of Attorney General and any payments
required to be made on account of any fireman employed by the
Commonwealth shall be made from moneys appropriated to the
employing agency.
(8) Any payments required to be made on account of any
enforcement officers or investigators of the Pennsylvania Game
Commission shall be made from moneys appropriated to the
Pennsylvania Game Commission or executively authorized from the
Game Fund under 34 Pa.C.S. Ch. 5 Subch. B (relating to Game
Fund).
(9) Any payments required to be made on account of any
enforcement officers or investigators of the Pennsylvania Fish
and Boat Commission shall be made from moneys appropriated to
the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission or executively
authorized from the Fish Fund under 30 Pa.C.S. Ch. 5 Subch. B
(relating to the Fish Fund) or the Boat Fund under 30 Pa.C.S.
Ch. 5 Subch. C (relating to the Boat Fund).
Section 2.1. For the purposes of this act, the [term
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"fireman" shall mean and include the following:] following words
and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Fireman." Any of the following:
(1) Paid firemen not employed by the Commonwealth.
(2) Emergency medical services personnel employed within a
city fire department.
(3) Firemen of airport authorities, including fire
suppression instructors.
(4) Fire and safety marshals who are firemen employed by the
Commonwealth.
(5) Fire academy instructors employed at the State Fire
Academy.
(6) Assistant fire marshals employed by the Commonwealth.
(7) Forest patrolmen and forest technicians employed by the
Commonwealth.
"Participating county." A county that elects to participate
in this act by submitting a notice to the Department of Labor
and Industry, which election shall be irrevocable after
participation in this act commences.
"Participating university." Any of the following that elects
to participate in this act by submitting a notice to the
Department of Labor and Industry, which election shall be
irrevocable after participation in this act commences:
(1) A State-owned university.
(2) A community college.
(3) A State-related college or university.
(4) A State-aided college or university.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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