INDIANAPOLIS | The family of a state employee killed in the line of duty would receive a $100,000 death benefit under legislation backed by two region lawmakers that was approved by the Indiana Senate Monday.
Senate Bill 324, co-sponsored by state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, and state Sen. Jim Arnold, D-LaPorte, doubles the current death benefit of $50,000.
State Sen. Pete Miller, R-Avon, said he was inspired to propose the measure after an Indiana Department of Transportation employee who lived in Miller's central Indiana district was killed at work.
Miller said he discovered the death benefit for public safety employees killed in the line of duty was doubled in the 1990s to $150,000, but the benefit for other state employees has remained unchanged.
Ten state employees not connected to public safety have been killed at work since 2003, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency.
The legislation was approved by the Senate, 47-2. It now goes to the House.
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