2012 -- H 7247

=======

LC00723

=======

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2012

____________

A N A C T

RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES - STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - LAW

ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS - INJURED AND DECEASED FIREFIGHTERS AND POLICE

     Introduced By: Representatives San Bento, DaSilva, Lally, Hull, and Savage

     Date Introduced: January 25, 2012

     Referred To: House Judiciary

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

1-1

     SECTION 1. Section 42-28.6-1 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-28.6 entitled "Law

1-2

Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights" is hereby amended to read as follows:

1-3

     42-28.6-1. Definitions -- Payment of legal fees. -- As used in this chapter, the following

1-4

words have the meanings indicated:

1-5

      (1) "Law enforcement officer" means any permanently employed city or town police

1-6

officer, state police officer, permanent law enforcement officer of the department of

1-7

environmental management, campus police officer appointed by the board of governors for

1-8

higher education, or those employees of the airport corporation of Rhode Island who have been

1-9

granted the authority to arrest by the director of said corporation. However this shall not include

1-10

the chief of police and/or the highest ranking sworn officer of any of the departments including

1-11

the director and deputy director of the airport corporation of Rhode Island.

1-12

      (2) (i) "Hearing committee" means a committee which is authorized to hold a hearing on

1-13

a complaint against a law enforcement officer and which consists of three (3) active or retired law

1-14

enforcement officers from within the state of Rhode Island, other than chiefs of police, who have

1-15

had no part in the investigation or interrogation of the law enforcement officer. The committee

1-16

shall be composed of three (3) members; one member selected by the chief or the highest ranking

1-17

officer of the law enforcement agency, one member selected by the aggrieved law enforcement

1-18

officer and the third member shall be selected by the other two (2) members. In the event that the

1-19

other two (2) members are unable to agree within five (5) days, then either member will make

2-1

application to the presiding justice of the superior court and the presiding justice shall appoint the

2-2

third member who shall be an active law enforcement officer. Upon written application by a

2-3

majority of the hearing committee, the presiding justice, in his or her discretion, may also appoint

2-4

legal counsel to assist the hearing committee.

2-5

      (ii) The law enforcement agency and the law enforcement officer under investigation

2-6

shall each be responsible to pay fifty percent (50%) of the legal fee of the appointed legal counsel

2-7

for the hearing committee; provided, however, that on motion made by either party, the presiding

2-8

justice shall have the authority to make a different disposition as to what each party is required to

2-9

pay toward the appointed legal counsel's legal fee.

2-10

      (3) "Hearing" means any meeting in the course of an investigatory proceeding, other than

2-11

an interrogation at which no testimony is taken under oath, conducted by a hearing committee for

2-12

the purpose of taking or adducing testimony or receiving evidence.

2-13

     SECTION 2. Section 45-19-1 of the General Laws in Chapter 45-19 entitled "Relief of

2-14

Injured and Deceased Fire Fighters and Police Officers" is hereby amended to read as follows:

2-15

     45-19-1. Salary payment during line of duty illness or injury. -- (a) Whenever any

2-16

police officer of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation or whenever any police officer, fire

2-17

fighter, crash rescue crewperson, fire marshal, chief deputy fire marshal, or deputy fire marshal of

2-18

any city, town, fire district, or the state of Rhode Island is wholly or partially incapacitated by

2-19

reason of injuries received or sickness contracted in the performance of his or her duties or due to

2-20

their rendering of emergency assistance within the physical boundaries of the state of Rhode

2-21

Island at any occurrence involving the protection or rescue of human life which necessitates that

2-22

they respond in a professional capacity when they would normally be considered by their

2-23

employer to be officially off-duty, the respective city, town, fire district, state of Rhode Island or

2-24

Rhode Island Airport Corporation by which the police officer, fire fighter, crash rescue

2-25

crewperson, fire marshal, chief deputy fire marshal, or deputy fire marshal, is employed, shall,

2-26

during the period of the incapacity, pay the police officer, fire fighter, crash rescue crewperson,

2-27

fire marshal, chief deputy fire marshal, or deputy fire marshal, the salary or wage and benefits to

2-28

which the police officer, fire fighter, crash rescue crewperson, fire marshal, chief deputy fire

2-29

marshal, or deputy fire marshal, would be entitled had he or she not been incapacitated, and shall

2-30

pay the medical, surgical, dental, optical, or other attendance, or treatment, nurses, and hospital

2-31

services, medicines, crutches, and apparatus for the necessary period, except that if any city,

2-32

town, fire district, the state of Rhode Island or Rhode Island Airport Corporation provides the

2-33

police officer, fire fighter, crash rescue crewperson, fire marshal, chief deputy fire marshal, or

2-34

deputy fire marshal, with insurance coverage for the related treatment, services, or equipment,

3-1

then the city, town, fire district, the state of Rhode Island or Rhode Island Airport Corporation is

3-2

only obligated to pay the difference between the maximum amount allowable under the insurance

3-3

coverage and the actual cost of the treatment, service, or equipment. In addition, the cities, towns,

3-4

fire districts, the state of Rhode Island or Rhode Island Airport Corporation shall pay all similar

3-5

expenses incurred by a member who has been placed on a disability pension and suffers a

3-6

recurrence of the injury or illness that dictated his or her disability retirement, subject to the

3-7

provisions of subsection (j) herein.

3-8

      (b) As used in this section, "police officer" means and includes any chief or other

3-9

member of the police department of any city or town regularly employed at a fixed salary or wage

3-10

and any executive high sheriff, sheriff, deputy sheriff, member of the fugitive task force, or

3-11

capitol police officer, permanent environmental police officer or criminal investigator of the

3-12

department of environmental management, or airport police officer or campus police officer

3-13

appointed by the board of governors for higher education.

3-14

      (c) As used in this section, "fire fighter" means and includes any chief or other member

3-15

of the fire department or rescue personnel of any city, town, or fire district, and any person

3-16

employed as a member of the fire department of the town of North Smithfield, or fire department

3-17

or district in any city or town.

3-18

      (d) As used in this section, "crash rescue crewperson" means and includes any chief or

3-19

other member of the emergency crash rescue section, division of airports, or department of

3-20

transportation of the state of Rhode Island regularly employed at a fixed salary or wage.

3-21

      (e) As used in this section, "fire marshal," "chief deputy fire marshal", and "deputy fire

3-22

marshal" mean and include the fire marshal, chief deputy fire marshal, and deputy fire marshals

3-23

regularly employed by the state of Rhode Island pursuant to the provisions of chapter 28.2 of title

3-24

23.

3-25

      (f) Any person employed by the state of Rhode Island, except for sworn employees of

3-26

the Rhode Island State Police, who is otherwise entitled to the benefits of chapter 19 of this title

3-27

shall be subject to the provisions of chapters 29 -- 38 of title 28 for all case management

3-28

procedures and dispute resolution for all benefits.

3-29

      (g) In order to receive the benefits provided for under this section, a police officer or

3-30

firefighter must prove to their employer that he or she had reasonable grounds to believe that

3-31

there was an emergency which required an immediate need for their assistance for the protection

3-32

or rescue of human life.

3-33

      (h) Any claims to the benefits provided for under this section resulting from the

3-34

rendering of emergency assistance in the state of Rhode Island at any occurrence involving the

4-1

protection or rescue of human life while off-duty, shall first require those covered by this section

4-2

to submit a sworn declaration to their employer attesting to the date, time, place and nature of the

4-3

event involving the protection or rescue of human life causing the professional assistance to be

4-4

rendered and the cause and nature of any injuries sustained in the protection or rescue of human

4-5

life. Sworn declarations shall also be required from any available witness to the alleged

4-6

emergency involving the protection or rescue of human life.

4-7

      (i) All declarations required under this section shall contain the following language:

4-8

      "Under penalty of perjury, I declare and affirm that I have examined this declaration,

4-9

including any accompanying schedules and statements, and that all statements contained herein

4-10

are true and correct."

4-11

      (j) Any person receiving injured on-duty benefits pursuant to this section, and subject to

4-12

the jurisdiction of the state retirement board for accidental retirement disability, for an injury

4-13

occurring on or after July 1, 2011, shall be eligible to receive such benefits for a total period of

4-14

eighteen (18) months after the date of the person's injury that resulted in said person's injured on

4-15

duty status, except as provided for in subdivision 45-19-1(j)(2).

4-16

      (1) Within eighteen (18) months of being injured, the person shall apply for an accidental

4-17

disability retirement allowance from the state retirement board. A person who so applies shall

4-18

continue to receive injured on duty payments until the person's application for an accidental

4-19

disability retirement allowance has been allowed or denied, and if denied initially, then upon the

4-20

expiration of the appeal period from such decision to the workers' compensation court pursuant to

4-21

section 45-21.2-9 of the general laws, or, if appealed, then upon a decision from the workers'

4-22

compensation court denying said appeal, whichever is applicable.

4-23

      (2) If a person with injured on duty status fails to apply for an accidental disability

4-24

retirement allowance from the state retirement board within the eighteen (18) month period set

4-25

forth in this subsection, that person's injured on duty payments shall terminate, unless said person

4-26

provides to the applicable municipality a written opinion from a physician that states that it is the

4-27

physician's opinion, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that the person will be able to

4-28

return to work within six (6) months. In such event, the injured person may continue to receive

4-29

injured on duty payments for a period, not to exceed six (6) months, after the initial eighteen (18)

4-30

month period expires.

4-31

     SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.

=======

LC00723

=======

EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N A C T

RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES - STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - LAW

ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS - INJURED AND DECEASED FIREFIGHTERS AND POLICE

***

5-1

     This act would amend the definition of “police officer” or “law enforcement officer” to

5-2

include campus police officers.

5-3

     This act would take effect upon passage.

=======

LC00723

=======