1. (a) The board shall pay a death benefit of:

   1. (1) fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for a state employee who dies in the line of duty before July 1, 2013; and
   2. (2) one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for a state employee who dies in the line of duty after June 30, 2013.

2. (b) The death benefit shall be paid in a lump sum as follows:

   1. (1) To the surviving spouse.

   2. (2) If there is no surviving spouse, to the surviving dependent children and surviving dependent stepchildren in equal shares.

      For purposes of this subsection, a child or stepchild is dependent on a state employee if the state employee claimed the child or stepchild as a dependent on the federal income tax return filed by the state employee in the year before the year in which the state employee died.

As added by P.L.49-1989, SEC.7. Amended by P.L.245-2013, SEC.1.