ATLANTA (March 24, 2009) – Today the Georgia Senate voted in favor of law enforcement and emergency personnel families receiving payment from the Georgia State Indemnification Fund when their family member suffers from organic brain damage or death. State Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga) sponsored the Jarrett Little Act (SB 414). The Act passed unanimously out of the Senate.
“Georgia’s law enforcement and emergency personnel put their lives on the line each and every day to protect us from tragedies and save our lives in emergencies. The least we can do is make sure their indemnification funds remain with their families when they make the ultimate sacrifice and fall in the line of duty,” said Mullis. “It shouldn’t matter if they are married, single or without a dependent. Their indemnification fund should stay with the family.”
Mullis’ legislation provides that in the case of death or organic brain damage in the line of duty by a law enforcement officer, firefighter, emergency medical technician, emergency management specialist, or prison guard, payment from the Georgia State Indemnification Fund may also be made to the deceased person’s parents if the person does not have a non-remarried spouse or dependents, or to his or her surviving siblings if the person has no surviving parents. Current law already provides that payment must be made to the surviving non-remarried spouse, to the dependents of the spouse or deceased person, or to the legal guardian of the organically brain damaged person.
Mullis sponsored this bill in memory of Jarrett Little, a Walker County and Fort Oglethorpe firefighter that died in January 2009. Little was a single, 23-year-old volunteer firefighter who was killed when the fire truck he was driving overturned on the way to a fire.
Sen. Jeff Mullis serves as Chairman of the Transportation Committee. He represents the 53rd Senate district which includes Chattooga, Dade, and Walker counties and portions of Catoosa County. He can be reached at his office in Atlanta at 404.656.0057 or by email at jeff.mullis@senate.ga.gov.
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
March 24, 2010
For Information Contact:
Raegan Weber, Director
raegan.weber@senate.ga.gov
404.656.0028