AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE DISABILITY RETIREMENT OF CHRISTOPHER VAN NESS, A POLICE OFFICER IN THE TOWN OF YARMOUTH.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary and in order to promote the public good, the retirement board of Barnstable county shall retire Christopher Van Ness, a police officer in the Yarmouth Police Department, who was injured in the line of duty and, as a result, is permanently incapacitated from performing the essential duties of a police officer. The retirement benefits shall be paid and administered in accordance with section 7 of chapter 32 of the General Laws. Upon retirement, Christopher Van Ness shall receive a lump sum payment from the retirement board of Barnstable county equal to his total accumulated retirement deductions.
(b) The annual amount of pension payable to Christopher Van Ness shall be equal to the regular rate of compensation which would have been payable to him had he continued in service as a police officer at the grade held by him at the time of his retirement. The payments shall continue until his death or until he reaches age 65, whichever first occurs. The retirement shall become effective commencing on the date immediately following the final day for which Christopher Van Ness received regular compensation for such employment. The additional benefits granted in this act shall be funded and administered by said retirement board, consistent with and subject to said chapter 32, except that sections 8 and 91A of said chapter 32 shall not apply. All amounts paid under this act shall be nontaxable to the extent allowable under state and federal law.
(c) Upon attaining age 65, Christopher Van Ness shall receive a pension pursuant to section 7 of said chapter 32, the yearly amount of which shall be equal to 80 per cent of the average annual rate of compensation paid to him in the previous 12 months.
(d) If Christopher Van Ness shall be married at the time of his retirement, then, upon his death, said retirement board shall pay his surviving spouse if then living, a pension, payable in monthly installments in the amount of 75 per cent of the annualized amount of the pension payable to Christopher Van Ness on the date of his death. The pension shall be subject to section 103 of said chapter 32.
(e) Christopher Van Ness shall be indemnified by the town of Yarmouth for hospital, medical and other healthcare expenses related to treatment of injuries sustained while in the line of duty on April 12, 2018 not otherwise covered by health insurance.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved, January 2, 2019.