SB 56: Georgia State Indemnification Fund; the Department of Administrative Services to purchase annuities for the payment of indemnification claims; authorize

Georgia's State Indemnification Fund pays lump sums or installment benefits to public safety officers, or their families, when an officer is killed or disabled in the line of duty. This bill amends the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A. §§ 45-9-85, 45-9-86, and 45-9-88) that govern the fund. The bill authorizes the Department of Administrative Services to purchase annuities to fund these indemnification payments instead of only paying them directly. It also adds a definition of COVID-19 to the law and creates a path for the families of public safety officers who died of COVID-19 on or before April 15, 2022 to receive the $150,000 death benefit, if the officer was diagnosed with or showed evidence of COVID-19 within 14 days of their last day on duty, had COVID-19 or its complications at death, and no claim has already been paid for that death. Families would have to file that specific COVID-19 claim between the bill's effective date and August 1, 2025, or lose eligibility. The bill also makes wording changes clarifying that the presumption covering heart attacks, strokes, and vascular ruptures applies when those conditions occur in the line of duty.

• Authorizes the Department of Administrative Services to purchase annuities to fund payments from the Georgia State Indemnification Fund.
• Adds a legal definition of COVID-19 to the indemnification law covering the coronavirus and any conditions it causes.
• Creates a path for death benefits when a public safety officer died of COVID-19 on or before April 15, 2022, if diagnosis or evidence of infection occurred within 14 days of the officer's last day on duty and evidence shows COVID-19 or its complications were present at death.
• Sets a strict filing window for COVID-19 death claims: they must be submitted between the bill's effective date and August 1, 2025, or they cannot be paid.
• Blocks a COVID-19 death claim if an indemnification claim for that same death has already been paid.
• Makes conforming wording changes, replacing 'article' with 'part' and clarifying that the heart attack, stroke, or vascular rupture presumption applies when the officer's medical event occurred while performing line-of-duty work.

Public safety officers such as law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, emergency management rescue specialists, state highway employees, and prison guards; their surviving spouses, children, and dependents; and the Department of Administrative Services, which administers the fund and would gain authority to purchase annuities.

Families of public safety officers who died of COVID-19 during the pandemic, who previously had no clear path to indemnification benefits under this fund, would get a specific window through August 1, 2025 to file a claim for the $150,000 death benefit, while the state gains a new funding tool through annuities.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 45-9-85 to define COVID-19 and let the Department of Administrative Services purchase annuities to fund indemnification payments under the part.
• Section 1 adds a rule treating a public safety officer's COVID-19-related death occurring on or before April 15, 2022 as line-of-duty if diagnosed or showing evidence of infection within 14 days of last duty and evidence of COVID-19 at death.
• Section 1 bars a COVID-19 death claim if an indemnification claim for that death has already been paid, and allows medical evidence to rebut the COVID-19 presumption.
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 45-9-86 to require COVID-19 death claims to be filed between the bill's effective date and August 1, 2025, with no payment allowed for late or improper filings.
• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 45-9-88 to update a cross-reference so the exception for heart attacks, strokes, and vascular ruptures points to the correct new subsection.
• Section 4 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-07-01Effective Date
2. 2025-05-14Act 281
3. 2025-05-14Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2025-04-07Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2025-03-27House Passed/Adopted (House)
6. 2025-03-27House Third Readers (House)
7. 2025-03-20House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
8. 2025-03-06House Second Readers (House)

• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-31)Primary sponsor
• John Albers (R, SD-56)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-29)
• John F. Kennedy (R, SD-18)
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-51)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-42)
• Billy Hickman (R, SD-4)
• Blake Tillery (R, SD-19)
• Frank Ginn (R, SD-47)
• Max Burns (R, SD-23)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-54)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-49)
• Sam Watson (R, SD-11)
• Timothy Bearden (R, SD-30)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-48)
• Marty Harbin (R, SD-16)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-8)
• Greg Dolezal (R, SD-27)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-50)
• Lee Anderson (R, SD-24)
• Joseph Gullett (R, HD-19)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 3, 2025

   54 yea, 1 nay (0 not voting, 1 excused)

   PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE: Senate Vote #134

2. PassedHouse voteMarch 27, 2025

   165 yea, 0 nay (4 not voting, 11 excused)

   PASSAGE: House Vote #325

• public safety officer benefits
• COVID-19 death benefits
• state indemnification fund
• first responder compensation
• workers compensation for police and firefighters