Senate Bill 164 Summary

• Surviving spouses of county police officers or county sheriffs killed in the line of duty are entitled to receive worker's compensation benefits until remarriage or death, without regard to any maximum statutory compensation period.

• Creates new sections IC 22-3-3-17.5 and IC 22-3-7-11.5 to provide unlimited duration survivor benefits for qualifying spouses, effective July 1, 2010.

• Makes conforming amendments to IC 22-3-3-16, IC 22-3-3-17, IC 22-3-3-32, IC 22-3-7-11, IC 22-3-7-16, and IC 22-3-7-19 to exclude the new survivor benefit provisions from the standard 500-week maximum compensation limits.

• Updates technical references throughout the worker's compensation statutes to cite specific sections rather than Indiana Code citations, and corrects a dollar amount from $2,500 to $2,550 for permanent impairment compensation.