Pictured above: Sen. Paul Logan, left, Sen. John Rafferty, second from right, and Bruce Edwards, president of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association, right, with the widow and children of Trooper Paul Richey. Trooper Richey's family was the first to benefit from Senate Bill 369.
More from Sen. Rafferty's office:
Senators honored by State Troopers Association
Sen. John C. Rafferty, Jr., R-44th, and Sen. Sean Logan, D-45th, were recently honored by the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association for their work in passing Senate Bill 369, which ensures that the families of public safety employees killed in the line of duty receive death benefits.
"This measure provides peace of mind and solid assurance to our officers that their loved one will receive adequate and full survivor benefits," Sen. Rafferty said. "I am proud to have co-sponsored this legislation."
The bill guarantees killed-in-service-death benefits to all spouses or minor children of a paid firefighter, law enforcement officer and ambulance service or rescue squad member equal to the amount of the decedent’s monthly salary.
"Without the drive and commitment from Sen. Rafferty this bill would not have happened. It was his tireless efforts to push this measure through during a very difficult budget time," said Bruce Edwards, president of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association.
"This bill has a cost to it, an unknown cost, because you never know how often it will be needed. But this did not deter Senators Rafferty and Logan and they were able to get it through.
"Unfortunately the state police were the first to use it, but thankfully it was there for Trooper Paul Richey's widow and two children," Edwards said.
Prior to passage of SB369, pension and workers' compensation payments provided death benefits that covered a portion of the salaries of troopers, officers, firefighters and emergency personnel in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and third-class cities that were killed in the line of duty. With the new measure, the state would pick up the remaining share.
Boroughs and townships used to pay the entire cost of benefits for their police. Senate Bill 369 shifted these costs to the state. A Senate actuarial study estimates the annual cost to the state to be $9,000 for each officer killed in the line of duty.
Since 2002, 32 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty. Of these officers, nine were members of the pension plans providing the killed-in-service benefit. The surviving beneficiaries of the remaining 23 law enforcement officers and an additional 15 firefighters were not eligible for the benefit because these public safety employees were not members of the Act 600 pension plan.
SB369 now assures adequate financial protection for families of fallen police officer and other emergency responders.
Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS
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