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An Act Relating to Death Benefits for Certain Law Enforcement Officers
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 25 MRSA §1611, sub-§5, as amended by PL 2005, c. 519, Pt. XXX, §1, is further amended to read:
 
5. Law enforcement officer or officer. "Law enforcement officer" or "officer" means an active state police officer, municipal police officer, county sheriff, deputy sheriff, game warden, an employee of the Office of the State Fire Marshal who has law enforcement powers pursuant to section 2396, subsection 7, fire marshal, state judicial marshal or state judicial deputy marshal, liquor enforcement officerforest ranger, Baxter State Park ranger, a detective employed by the Office of the Attorney General pursuant to Title 5, section 202, a person employed by the Department of Corrections as an investigative officer as defined in Title 34-A, section 1001, subsection 10-A, a juvenile community corrections officer as described in Title 34-A, section 5602, a probation officer, a security officer appointed by the Commissioner of Public Safety pursuant to section 2908, a motor vehicle investigator appointed by the Secretary of State pursuant to Title 29-A, section 152 or marine patrol officer in this State.
 
SUMMARY
Under current law, a state benefit of $50,000 is paid to the family of an eligible law enforcement officer who has died in the line of duty. This bill expands the list of eligible law enforcement officers to include forest rangers, Baxter State Park rangers, detectives employed by the Office of the Attorney General, investigative officers employed by the Department of Corrections, juvenile community corrections officers, probation officers, certain security officers appointed by the Commissioner of Public Safety and motor vehicle investigators appointed by the Secretary of State. This bill also removes an obsolete reference to liquor enforcement officers.