CRC - 2017                                                  P 57
       
       
        
       By Commissioner Kruppenbacher
       
       kruppenbf-00069A-17                                     201757__
    1                        A proposal to create                       
    2         a new section in Article X of the State Constitution
    3         to establish rights to certain death benefits to the
    4         survivors of specified first responders, military
    5         members, and public school employees.
    6          
    7  Be It Proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission of
    8  Florida:
    9  
   10         A new section is added to Article X of the State
   11  Constitution to read:
   12                              ARTICLE X                            
   13                            MISCELLANEOUS                          
   14         Death benefits for survivors of first responders, military
   15  members, and public school employees.—
   16         (a) A death benefit shall be paid by funds from general
   17  revenue when a firefighter; a paramedic; an emergency medical
   18  technician; a law enforcement, correctional, or correctional
   19  probation officer; an active duty member of the United States
   20  Armed Forces or the Florida National Guard; or a public school
   21  employee, while engaged in the performance of their official
   22  duties, is:
   23         (1) Accidentally killed or receives accidental bodily
   24  injury which results in the loss of the individual’s life,
   25  provided that such killing is not the result of suicide and that
   26  such bodily injury is not intentionally self-inflicted; or
   27         (2) Unlawfully and intentionally killed or dies as a result
   28  of such unlawful and intentional act.
   29         (b) In order to be eligible for payments authorized under
   30  subsection (a):
   31         (1) The first responder or public school employee must have
   32  been working for the State of Florida or any of its political
   33  subdivisions at the time of death.
   34         (2) The military member must have been a resident of this
   35  state or whose duty post was within the State of Florida at the
   36  time of death.
   37         (c) Payments authorized under subsection (a), regardless of
   38  whether secured by insurance, shall be made to the beneficiary
   39  that is designated by such first responder, military member, or
   40  public school employee through a written designation signed by
   41  the first responder, military member, or public school employee
   42  and delivered to the employing agency during the first
   43  responder’s, military member’s, or employee’s lifetime. If no
   44  such designation is made, the payment shall be made to the first
   45  responder’s, military member’s, or employee’s surviving child or
   46  children and spouse in equal portions, and if there is no
   47  surviving child or spouse, then to the first responder’s,
   48  military member’s, or employee’s parent or parents. If a
   49  beneficiary is not designated and there is no surviving child,
   50  spouse, or parent, the payment shall be made to the first
   51  responder’s, military member’s, or employee’s estate.
   52         (d) Payments that are made pursuant to subsections (a)
   53  through (c) are in addition to any workers’ compensation or
   54  pension benefits and are exempt from the claims and demands of
   55  creditors of the first responder, military member, or public
   56  school employee.
   57         (e) If a firefighter; a paramedic; an emergency medical
   58  technician; a law enforcement, correctional, or correctional
   59  probation officer; an active duty member of the United States
   60  Armed Forces or the Florida National Guard; or a public school
   61  employee is accidentally killed as specified in paragraph
   62  (a)(1), or unlawfully and intentionally killed as specified in
   63  paragraph (a)(2), the state shall waive certain educational
   64  expenses that the child or spouse of the deceased first
   65  responder, military member, or public school employee incurs
   66  while obtaining a career certificate, an undergraduate
   67  education, or a postgraduate education. The amount waived by the
   68  state shall be an amount equal to the cost of tuition and
   69  matriculation and registration fees for a total of 120 credit
   70  hours. The child or spouse may attend a state career center, a
   71  Florida College System institution, or a state university. The
   72  child or spouse may attend any or all of the institutions
   73  specified in this subsection, on either a full-time or part-time
   74  basis. The benefits provided to a child under this subsection
   75  continue until the child’s 25th birthday. The benefits provided
   76  to a spouse under this subsection must commence within 5 years
   77  after the death occurs, and entitlement thereto shall continue
   78  until the tenth anniversary of that death.
   79         (f) This section does not limit the legislature from
   80  enacting laws consistent with this section.
   81         (g) This amendment becomes effective upon approval by the
   82  electors.