Bill > S2215

This bill proposes to provide fair and equitable line of duty death benefits for public employees. The key provisions are: 1. Increasing the one-time payment to the family of a deceased public employee killed in the line of duty from the current $150,000 to $300,000. The definition of "deceased public employee" is expanded to include any public employee working for state/county government, a Massachusetts public higher education institution, a municipality, public school department, public school district, or public authority who was killed or sustained injuries that directly caused their death while performing their duties. 2. Replacing the term "public safety employee" with "public employee" in the existing law to ensure equal benefits for all public employees. 3. Expanding the public service scholarship program to include children and widowed spouses of not just police officers, firefighters, and corrections officers, but also any public employees killed or who died from injuries received while performing their duties. 4. The bill's provisions will be retroactively applied to applications received by the state board of retirement on or after March 10, 2017.

Labor and Employment

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/S2215