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Bills to bolster Garrity, police family benefits loom in Lansing Proposed legislation to both clarify and strengthen Garrity protection is very timely, but that is no coincidence. Police officers' essential right against self-incrimination is being challenged by Wayne County Prosecutor Michael Duggan. As it also states, MAP and the Michigan Association of Police Organizations (MAPO) have taken leading roles in the defense of this right. The Proactive position of these organizations, articulated in Lansing by Karoub Associates, is reflected in a bill to be introduced by Representative Larry Julian (R-Lennon). The soon-to-be proposed legislation will address the goals of the many organizations which have stepped forward to back, and call for the bolstering of, Garrity protection. MAPO also actively supported recently-passed legislation that increases benefits to survivors of law enforcement officers and continues to promote the passage of pending bills that would meet the same objective. An amendment to the Fire Fighters and Police Officers Retirement Act that became law May 20 was the first step in what hopefully will be a three-part package of measures to expand assistance to officers' survivors. All were introduced by Representative Scott Shackleton (R-Sault St. Marie). The adopted provision specifies that a surviving spouse who is eligible to receive a duty death pension and who remarries after the effective date of the bill cannot be denied pension benefits by a municipality on the basis of the remarriage (in the case of a non-duty death, the local government would retain the option of whether to approve lifting the remarriage restriction for surviving spouses). Representative Shackleton's two pending survivor benefit proposals are: • House Bill 4298 calls for a new act to establish and provide funding for the Public Safety Officers Survivors Fund, and that would provide lifetime health insurance coverage for the spouse and/or children (until age 18, or until age 23 if enrolled full-time in a college or university) of a public safety officer who is killed in the line of duty. • House Bill 4178 would provide survivor benefits for a surviving spouse or dependents of a public safety officer who is killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. Both of the pending bills are expected to pass the House and then be taken up in the Senate. Continuing updates on their status, and that of future Garrity legislation, will be provided by Karoub Associates to MAP and MAPO and reported in News 'n Views and Police Report Magazine. |
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