The proposal comes after several failed attempts to close a legal loophole that withholds lifetime benefits from the children of single-parent officers, the New York Post reports.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said the measure will provide support for Familia’s three children.
Under the law, the children of single-parent officers killed in the line of duty are not entitled to lifetime pensions — a benefit granted to the spouses and parents of NYPD officers.
Instead, the benefits for Familia’s children — Genesis Villella, 26, and 18-year-old twins Peter and Delilah Vega — are due to max out when the younger siblings turn 21.
Their mother, a 12-year veteran of the NYPD, was sitting in a temporary police headquarters vehicle on July 5, 2017, when gunman Alexander Bonds shot her in the head . Bonds was later killed by police.
The tragic shooting left Genesis Villella not only grief-stricken but left her to care for her younger siblings on her own — without the benefits afforded to other NYPD families coping with a loss.