Existing law provides for the payment of death benefits to the dependents of an injured employee who has died. Existing law provides that in the case of totally dependent children, the death benefits are payable until the youngest child attains the age of 18 years. Existing law also provides for the payment of those death benefits in the case of a totally dependent child of a local safety member or a patrol member, as defined, if the member was killed in the line of duty before January 1, 1990, and the child is otherwise entitled to the benefits.
This bill would extend those death benefits to the totally dependent child of a specified safety member or a safety member subject to any public retirement system, and to a defined patrol member. The bill would also provide that the payment of death benefits would apply retroactively.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.