FRANKFORT, KY – Line-of-duty death benefits for spouses of police and other hazardous duty personnel in the state’s public retirement systems would increase under a bill approved on Thursday March 29, 2018 by a 37-0 vote in the Kentucky Senate.
House Bill 185 would increase line-of-duty benefits for surviving spouses from 25 to 75 percent of the deceased individual’s monthly average rate of pay, with dependent children also receiving a share. It then goes a step further to allow surviving spouses to continue receiving a portion of the death benefit when he or she remarries, at a reduced rate of up to 25 percent of the late former spouse’s monthly average pay.
A Senate amendment named the measure the Officer Scotty Hamilton and Officer Nick Rodman Memorial Act of 2018. Hamilton was a Pikeville officer fatally shot earlier this year. Rodman was a Louisville officer who died a day after being involved in a wreck with a suspect.
Sen. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, was among several legislators who stood in honor of law enforcement officers killed in their district in recent years.
“I think it is especially poignant because it’s one year to the day of Officer Rodman’s death,” McGarvey said. “We thank his family for their courage and sacrifice.”
Senate Majority Caucus Chair Dan “Malano” Seum, R-Fairdale, said it was an honor to support the bill.
“I go way back with my police department,” the retired businessman said. “Back in 1966 when I opened my first store in south Louisville, these guys saved me more than once.”
The veteran lawmaker said he recalled voting for a bill that increased the death benefit to $80,000 from $25,000 for an officer killed in the line of duty.
HB 185 now goes to back to the House for consideration of the Senate change.
