Coakley-Rivera's proposal would make the annual payment to survivors equal to the salary for the fallen officers' next rank or pay grade.
Thousands of police attended the funeral service for slain Springfield Police Officer Kevin Ambrose at St. Catherine of Siena in Springfield on June 8. A bill filed in the state house seeks to increase the annual benefit to families of police and firefighters killed in the line of duty.
SPRINGFIELD — State Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, D-Springfield, on Monday filed a bill that seeks to increase death benefits for the families of police and firefighters killed while on duty by giving an automatic promotion to the deceased.
Her proposal would amend an existing law, Mass. General Laws Chap. 32, Sect. 100, “Pensions to surviving spouses of firefighters, police officers or corrections officers killed in the performance of their duties.”
The existing law requires that the surviving spouse of any police officer, firefighter or corrections officer killed on duty to be paid an annual amount “equal to the amount of salary which would have been paid to such firefighter, police officer or corrections officer had he continued in service in the position held by him at the time of his death.”
Coakley-Rivera proposes basing the annual payment on what the police officer or firefighter would have earned with a promotion to the next rank or pay grade.
For example, the family of a patrolman killed in the line of duty would receive an annual payment equal to what the patrolman would have earned as a sergeant.
“Under this legislation, the designated beneficiary would receive the benefits equal to those they would have received had the public safety officer progressed to the next rank or position during their career,” she said.
“Police officers and firefighters put their lives on the line on a daily basis to ensure the safety of their community and the commonwealth as a whole. This legislation will ensure that the loved ones the leave behind will not have to face the added burden of financial hardship.”
Cheryl Coakley-Rivera
Coakley-Rivera's proposal would be retroactive to Dec. 1, 2010. Coakley aide Nicholas Giaquinto said as currently written, it would benefit the families of at least four fallen police officers.
They are Springfield patrol officer Kevin Ambrose, who was shot to death on June 4; Westfield patrol officer Jose Torres, who was struck by construction equipment while directing traffic on July 26; state trooper officer Ellen Engelhardt who died in June 2011 after spending eight years in a coma after being run down by a drunken driver; and Woburn police officer John Maguire, who was shot and killed Dec. 26, 2010.
The size of the increase would depend on the change in rank and the base salary of the home community.
Using the Ambrose case as an example, if the proposal were to become law, the Ambrose family’s annual benefit would go from around $57,300, the 2012 base pay for Springfield patrol officers, to around $70,700, which is the 2012 base pay for sergeants.
The bill was originally filed last summer, but never made it out of committee and died at the end of the last legislative session.
The bill is similar to a survivors’ benefits law in New York state.