Relates to special accidental death benefits paid to a deceased member's children

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

• Democratic5
• Republican1

This bill has cosponsors from more than one party.

Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Gustavo Rivera says this is needed

NYPD Officer Miosotis P. Familia was killed in the line of duty on July 5, 2017. While the Fourth of July fireworks were going off, Detective Familia was callously shot in the head while she sat in her police vehi- cle at East 183rd Street and Morris Avenue in the Bronx. Officer Fami- lia was brutally assassinated in an ambush attack solely for the blue NYPD uniform she proudly wore. Officer Familia was the first female police officer killed in the line of duty since 9/11, and only the third female officer killed in the line of duty in the history of the NYPD. The Police Commissioner stated, "Make no mistake: Officer Familia was murdered for her uniform and for the responsibility she embraced." Officer Familia was a single mother and left behind three young chil- dren: Genesis Villella, age 20, and twins Deliliah Vega and Peter Vega, age 12. Barely of an age to raise herself under such trying circum- stances, Genesis became the sole caregiver to her siblings and raised them on her own. To add to the family's pain, New York State does not recognize orphaned children of slain police officers in the same way it does surviving spouses. Had Officer Familia been married, her spouse would have received her accidental death benefit for life. However, even though Officer Miosotis's daughter, Genesis, has been raising her siblings as if they were her own, as her mother had asked her to in case the worst happened, the accidental death benefit terminates when each child reaches the age of 18 or 23 if they are a student. This legis- lation would guarantee that a child or children of an individual in a qualified profession who has died in the line of duty can claim the special accidental death benefits until they reach age 16 or until the youngest child reaches age 26, in instances where there is no surviving spouse to claim such benefits.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.