LEGISLATIVE UPDATE 2019

   The Indiana General Assembly adjourned its regular session on April 29 during which four bills and nine concurrent resolutions were introduced that would have directly affected law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty or their survivors and are summarized below:

• Senate Bill 172 – Survivor Health Coverage
Status: Passed in the General Assembly and signed by Governor Holcomb as Public Law 111, effective July 1, 2019
Authored by Sen. Michael Crider (R, Greenfield) and Sen. Blake Doriot (R, New Paris)
Synopsis: Provides that, if the employer of a public safety officer who dies in the line of duty after December 31, 2017, offers health coverage for active employees, the employer shall offer to provide and pay for health coverage under the plan covering active employees for the surviving spouse and each natural child, stepchild, and adopted child of the public safety officer. Provides that health coverage for a surviving child continues: (1) until the child becomes 18 years of age; (2) until the child becomes 23 years of age, under certain circumstances; or (3) during the entire period of the child’s physical or mental disability; whichever period is longest.

• Senate Bill 234 – Tuition of Children of Public Safety Officers
Status: Failed in Committee on Education and Career Development
Authored by Sen. Aaron Freeman (R, Indianapolis)
Synopsis: Defines “child” for purposes of exemption from tuition and fees for four undergraduate academic years at a state educational institution or state supported technical school for the child of a public safety officer who was killed in the line of duty.

• House Bill 1032 – Police Officer and Firefighter Pensions
Status: Failed in Committee on Veterans Affairs and Public Safety
Authored by Rep. Earl Harris (D, East Chicago)
Synopsis: Increases from $150,000 to $225,000 the special death benefit for a member of the 1925 fund, the 1937 fund, the 1953 fund, or the 1977 fund who dies in the line of duty.

• House Bill 1222 – Public Safety Officer Death Benefits
Status: Failed in Committee on Employment, Labor and Pensions
Authored by Rep. Chuck Goodrich (R, Noblesville)
Synopsis: Increases, from $150,000 to $250,000, the special death benefit for certain public safety officers, members of the 1925 police pension fund, the 1937 firefighters’ pension fund, the 1953 police pension fund, and the 1977 police officers’ and firefighters’ pension and disability fund who die in the line of duty after June 30, 2019.

• Senate Concurrent Resolution 15 – Status: Failed
Charlestown Sergeant Benton Hurley ‘Ben’ Bertram
Authored by Sen. Chris Garten (R, Scottsburg) and Sen. Michael Crider (R, Greenfield), the resolution memorializes Sergeant Benton “Ben” Bertram and urges the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to name a mile of State Road 3 near Scottsburg the “Sgt. Ben Bertram Memorial Mile.”

• Senate Concurrent Resolution 40 – Status: Adopted
Charlestown Sergeant Benton Hurley ‘Ben’ Bertram
Authored by Sen. Chris Garten (R, Scottsburg) and Sen. Michael Crider (R, Greenfield), the memorializing Sergeant Benton “Ben” Bertram and urges INDOT to name a mile of State Road 56 near Scottsburg the “Sgt. Ben Bertram Memorial Mile.”

• House Concurrent Resolution 14 – Status: Adopted
Indiana State Master Motor Carrier Inspector Ralph R. “Ray” Reed Jr.
Authored by Rep. Jack Jordan (R, Bremen), the resolution urges INDOT to rename that section of U.S. Highway 30 from the intersection with Pioneer Road in Plymouth to the intersection with Oak Road in Marshall County the “Ralph ‘Ray’ Reed, Jr. Memorial Drive.”

• House Concurrent Resolution 17 – Status: Failed
Monroe County Deputy Sheriff Sarah Irene Haylett-Jones
Authored by Rep. Robert Heaton (R, Riley), the resolution urges INDOT to rename a portion of State Road 45 the “Sarah Irene Haylett-Jones Memorial Highway” in memory of Deputy Sarah Haylett-Jones of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

• House Concurrent Resolution 18 – Status: Failed
Indiana State Trooper Trooper Robert Jack ‘Bob’ Garrison
Authored by Rep. Melanie Wright (D, Yorktown), the resolution urges INDOT to rename a portion of State Road 67 the “Trooper Bob Garrison Memorial Highway” in honor of Trooper Robert Jack Garrison.

• House Concurrent Resolution 23 – Status: Failed
Putnam County Captain James E. ‘Jim’ Baugh
Authored by Rep. Karlee Macer (D, Indianapolis), the resolution urges INDOT to rename the bridge over Big Walnut Creek at North U.S. Highway 231 as the “James Baugh Memorial Bridge.”

• House Concurrent Resolution 25 – Status: Failed
Indiana State Trooper Roy Edman Jones
Authored by Rep. Robert Cherry (R, Greenfield), the resolution urges INDOT to name a portion of State Road 38 in Pendleton, Indiana, where the accident occurred in memory of Trooper Roy E. Jones.

• House Concurrent Resolution 34 – Status: Adopted
Indiana State Trooper Roy Edman Jones
Authored by Rep. Robert Cherry (R, Greenfield), the resolution urges INDOT to name a portion of U.S. 36 in memory of Trooper Roy E. Jones between State Road 9 and the Madison and Henry County line.

• House Concurrent Resolution 36 – Status: Adopted
Boone County Deputy Sheriff Jacob Matthew ‘Jake’ Pickett
Authored by Rep. Donna Schaibley (R, Carmel), the resolution memorializing Boone County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob M. Pickett.