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SALT LAKE CITY — A Senate committee unanimously endorsed a bill Thursday that would expand death benefits to families of peace officers and firefighters who die in the line of duty.
Before voting to send the bill to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation, lawmakers listened to Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder as he explained how he’s had the “unfortunate task of having to deal with the aftermath” of such circumstances.
“There’s no greater pain on part of a law enforcement administrator,” Winder said, “than having to go to a home and deliver probably the worst news one can ever anticipate, and then immediately be confronted with the questions.”
Winder spoke of how the spouses of those fallen officers are flooded with emotional uncertainty and fear for their family’s future. If HB288 is signed into law, he said, law enforcement officers would be able to “go to these homes, wrap their arms around these people, and provide true care and solace instead of additional questions.”
Sponsored by Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, HB288 would increase the lump sum spouses of officers killed in the line of duty receive, as well as provide health coverage for the officer’s surviving family.
Currently, surviving spouses are only granted $1,500 in such situations. The bill would replace the $1,500 with a sum that equals the fallen officer’s final average salary and offer continuing health coverage for the spouse, as well as the officer’s children until they either marry or reach the age of 26.
In addition to requiring employers to provide fallen officers’ families with continuing health coverage, the bill would also instruct those employers to designate a person to aid surviving spouses with applying for death benefits.
Layton city attorney Gary Crane said the League of Cities and Towns had previously been concerned with HB288 because the bill had originally placed potentially steep financial responsibly upon city agencies, big and small.
But Ray said he worked with the league to amend the bill and designate a trust fund in which cities can elect to participate in and contribute to. If an officer is lost, the cities will then share the cost.
“What if (one little city) had two or three officers die in one year, heaven forbid?” Crane said. “It would have been a very difficult thing for them to handle, but with this they’re able to invest in this trust and continue forward.”
The fund would also be open to public donation, Ray said. Email: kmckellar@deseretnews.com
