This petition is to aid in the change of the Florida Retirement System Investment and Pension plan law. This law change will provide up to 100 percent of the Deputy`s monthly salary to the surviving spouse and children if killed in the line of Duty.

SB 7012 will provide a fair and deserved benefit to the spouse and children of a Law Enforcement Officers killed in the line of duty. The bill provides the following benefit changes to the Florida Retirement System.

• The new survivor benefits established in SB 7012 will be available to members in the Special Risk Class killed in the line of duty on or after July 1, 2013.
• The surviving spouse and children of members who are in the Special Risk Class will receive 100 percent of the member’s monthly salary at the time of death. (This is an increase from the current benefit of 50 percent).
• The surviving spouse and children of a member of the Special Risk Class will have the option to opt out of the FRS Investment Plan and opt into the FRS pension plan survivor benefit program. This will allow for the surviving spouse and children to receive an annuitized benefit much like the survivor benefit afforded to Special Risk Class members in the FRS pension plan.
• If a surviving spouse of a member killed in the line of duty dies or the member leaves no surviving spouse but is survived by a child or children under 18 years of age, the benefits provided payable to a surviving spouse, shall be paid for the use and benefit of such member’s child or children under 18 years of age and unmarried until the 18th birthday of the member’s youngest child.
• Beginning July 1, 2016, such monthly payments may be extended, for the surviving child of a member in the Special Risk Class at the time he or she was killed in the line of duty on or after July 1, 2013, until the 25th birthday of any child of the member if the child is unmarried and enrolled as a full-time student.

By signing this petition you are extending your support of this bill which will provide pension funds and support for the surviving spouses and children of our law enforcement heroes who are killed in the line of duty. It is the honorable thing to do.