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No entity has a greater stake than the Michigan Concerns of Police Survivors (MI-COPS) in laws that benefit the families of fallen police officers. It therefore is no surprise that the organization has issued a statement of appreciation for the enactment of the Fire Fighters and Police Officers Retirement Act amendment dubbed the "Remarriage Bill." MI-COPS officials were present when Governor Jennifer Granholm signed the measure into law March 20. They expressed their gratitude at that time, have frequently done so since then, and are also thanking other organizations for their support of the bill. Prominent among those cited by MI-COPS for their role in backing passage of the amendment is the Michigan Association of Police Organizations (MAPO), of which MAP is a charter member. The amendment, which became effective immediately, 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. MAP Executive Director Fred Timpner described the measure as "another important step in protecting the spouses and children of officers who have given their lives doing the toughest job in the world." He pointed to ongoing MAP and MAPO support of two other pieces of legislation that address the same objective: House Bill 4298, which would create a new act to establish and provide funding for the Public Safety Officers Survivors Fund, and that would assure 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. The Remarriage Bill and both of those pending bills were introduced by Rep. Scott Shackleton (R-Sault St. Marie), a legislator who has earned special status for authoring the measures, according to MI-COPS President Diane Philpot. "MI-COPS is very grateful to Rep. Shackleton for his unrelenting efforts in getting this language passed into law," she said. "Sandi Lewis, in the FOP's summer Peace Officer magazine, calls Shackleton 'a new hero.' That he is!" Annuity exclusion for survivors News from the IRS - For tax years beginning after 2001, a survivor annuity received by the spouse, former spouse, or child of a public safety officer killed in the line of duty generally will be excluded from the recipient's income regardless of the date of the officer's death. Survivor benefits received before 2002 are excludable only if the officer died after 1996. The exclusion provision applies to a chaplain killed in the line of duty after Sept. 11, 2001. Further information can be obtained in Publication 559: Survivors, Executors and Administrators, under "Public Safety Officers." |
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