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SENATE DOCKET, NO. 205 FILED ON: 1/12/2023
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1748
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PRESENTED BY:
John C. Velis
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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act providing fair and equitable line of duty death benefits for public employees.
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PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :John C. VelisHampden and Hampshire 1 of 2
SENATE DOCKET, NO. 205 FILED ON: 1/12/2023
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1748
By Mr. Velis, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1748) of John C. Velis for legislation
to provide fair and equitable line of duty death benefits for public employees. Public Service.
[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 1741 OF 2021-2022.]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)
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An Act providing fair and equitable line of duty death benefits for public employees.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. Section 100A of Chapter 32, as amended in section 9 of chapter 5 of the
2acts of 2017, is hereby further amended by striking subsection (c) in its entirety and inserting in
3place thereof the following subsection:-
4 (c) The killed in the line of duty benefit shall be a 1-time payment of $300,000 to the
5family of a deceased public employee. As used in this section deceased public employee shall
6mean any public employee working for state or county government, a Massachusetts public
7higher education institution, a municipality, public school department, or public school district or
8public authority who, while in the performance of his/her duties and as a result of incident,
9accident or violence, was killed or sustained injuries which were the direct and proximate cause
10of his/her death. 2 of 2
11 SECTION 2. Section 100A of chapter 32 is hereby further amended in subsection (d) by
12replacing each occurrence of the words “public safety employee” in said subsection with the
13words “public employee”.
14 SECTION 3. Section 16 of chapter 15A, as amended by chapter 283 of the acts of 2016,
15is hereby amended by striking out the ninth paragraph and inserting in place thereof the
16following paragraph:-
17 There shall be a public service scholarship program to provide scholarships to the: (i)
18children and widowed spouses of Massachusetts police officers, firefighters, corrections officers,
19and public employees working for state or county government, a Massachusetts public higher
20education institution, a municipality, a public school department, a public school district or a
21public authority who were killed or died from injuries received while in the performance of their
22duties, including authorized training duty; (ii) children of prisoners of war or of military or
23service persons missing in action; and (iii) children of veterans whose service was credited to the
24commonwealth and who were killed in action or otherwise died as a result of such service. Such
25scholarships shall be awarded by the council pursuant to its guidelines established to govern this
26program and shall go to those persons referenced above who are admitted to an institution of
27higher education in the commonwealth to pursue undergraduate studies. The guidelines shall
28include, but not be limited to, a waiver of mandatory fees.