Chapter 189-A: Death Benefit for School Employee Killed in Line of Duty

I. In this section:

(a) "Family" means the surviving spouse of the school employee; or, if there is no surviving spouse, the surviving dependent child or dependent children, of such school employee or, if there is no surviving dependent child, a surviving person qualifying as a common-law spouse pursuant to RSA 457:39, or if there is no surviving common-law spouse, the surviving adult child or adult children, or if there is no surviving adult child or adult children, the surviving parent or parents of such school employee. A surviving dependent child shall include a dependent stepchild whose expenses of daily living were substantially paid for by the decedent at the time of the death.

(b) "School employee" means any person, full or part time, who is employed by a public school in the state of New Hampshire.

(c) "Public school" means any public school or public academy approved by the state of New Hampshire pursuant to state laws and regulations, including the university system of New Hampshire and the community college system of New Hampshire.

(d) "Killed in the line of duty" means the death of a school employee while in the performance of his or her duties as a result of violence by another, who purposely causes that death or purposely causes serious bodily injury which is the direct or proximate cause of the death of the school employee.

II. In addition to any other benefit for which the school employee or family is eligible, the state treasurer shall pay a $100,000 death benefit to the family of a school employee killed in the line of duty; provided that under no circumstance shall a family member responsible for the school employee's death be eligible for such benefit. Payment to a dependent child shall be made to the child's trustee for the benefit of the child. The governor, with the consent of the executive council, is authorized to draw a warrant for said sum out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

III. The attorney general or a designee from the department of justice shall review the records that relate to the circumstances of the employee's death and shall render a determination whether the incident qualifies as a line-of-duty death as defined in subparagraph I(d).

(a) Such determination shall be rendered within 45 days of documented notice of the incident.

(b) If the death of the school employee is determined to qualify as a line-of-duty death as defined in subparagraph I(d), the attorney general or a designee from the department of justice shall notify the commissioner of the department of education, who shall adopt the attorney general's recommendation and submit a request to the governor for payment of the benefit.

(c) Any records received in order to make the determination if the school employee's death qualifies as a line-of-duty death as defined in subparagraph I(d) shall be exempt from RSA 91-A. Upon the request of the decedent's family, any medical records or other records which otherwise are nonpublic shall be destroyed following the vote by the governor and executive council on this matter.

IV. Neither the state nor its agencies or employees shall be civilly liable for any improper payment of the line-of-duty death benefit as provided in this section.