State comptroller Mendoza to testify in favor of making it easier for officers who survived COVID to get benefits
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza will testify in Springfield Thursday to fight for first responders.
Mendoza will testify at an Illinois state Senate hearing Thursday morning in support of a fix to the state's Act of Duty bill.
Mendoza says the City of Chicago police pension board has been denying Act of Duty benefits to police officers – including Mendoza's brother, Chicago Police Detective Sgt. Joaquin Mendoza – who lived through COVID-19, but were left severely disabled after getting sick in the days before vaccines were available.
Officers who died of COVID-19 during that period are considered to have died in an Act of Duty under state law, so their families get full benefits.
Mendoza will testify in favor of a bill, HB 3162, that would change state law to make it easier for officers who survived COVID, but were left disabled, to receive benefits.
The legislation is sponsored by state Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea) and Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago). It has already passed the state house with a bipartisan unanimous vote.