You asked if PA 07-161, “An Act Concerning Survivor Benefits,” applies to (1) employee deaths that took place before the act took effect, (2) deaths that took place before the act if the surviving spouse remarried after the act was effective, and (3) deaths that are not in the line of duty.

The Office of Legislative Research is not authorized to provide legal opinions and this report should not be construed as one.

This act requires municipalities to continue to provide survivor pension benefits to the surviving spouse of a paid police officer or firefighter who dies in the line of duty even after the spouse remarries. The act does not appear to be retroactive to deaths that took place before its effective date (October 1, 2007), even if the remarriage took place after the act's effective date. The act (and the prior law) does not apply to the deaths of police officers or firefighters that are not in the line of duty.

Nothing in the act indicates the legislature intended it to be retroactive. Also the statutes prohibit new obligations from being construed as retroactive unless there is specific language for retroactivity:

“No provision of the general statutes, not previously contained in the statutes of the state, which imposes any new obligation on any person or corporation, shall be construed to have a retrospective effect (CGS § 55-3). ”

Generally, a person is entitled to the level of benefits that the statutes provide at the time of the event triggering the benefits. With a line-of-duty death, the employee's death is the triggering event. This suggests that only line-of-duty deaths that take place after the law is effective will trigger benefits that will continue after a surviving spouse remarries.

JM: ts