Lawmakers in Albany are preparing a new bill that would award lifetime pensions to the children of slain NYPD cop Miosotis Familia — who was killed execution-style while on duty in the Bronx in 2017.
The proposal, sponsored by two New York state legislators, comes after several failed attempts to close a legal loophole that withholds lifetime benefits from the children of single-parent officers.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, D-Bronx, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said the measure will provide support for Familia’s three children.
“It’s a no-brainer,” Dinowitz said. “Why anyone would be against this bill is beyond me.”
The lawmaker explained that legislators “did not contemplate a situation like this” when they first crafted the pension rules.
Under the law, the children of single-parent cops killed in the line of duty are not entitled to lifetime pensions — a perk 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.
“It’s extremely unfair for the children of Officer Familia not to get benefits,” he said.
The new bill would allow Villella to qualify for “certain spousal accidental death benefits,” with the money split evenly between the three siblings.
“Before my mother died she sat me down and said, ‘I have a dangerous job and if anything happens to me I need you to take care of your brother and sister,’” Villella told The Post on Sunday.
“We were put in a unique situation and hopefully this bill will correct our situation and recognize me as the mother responsible for taking care of Peter and Delilah, who are my kids,” she said.
Read Related Also: Randi Nicole Stout Car Accident: What Happened To Her? Case Update
Their mother, a 12-year veteran of New York’s Finest, was sitting in a temporary police headquarters vehicle on July 5, 2017, when gunman Alexander Bonds shot her in the head.
Bonds was later gunned down by police.
But 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.
Past attempts to help the family have fallen short, including a bid by Queens state Sen. Jose Peralta to pay the children up to $1,000 a month for up to 10 years just three weeks after the veteran cop’s death.
Peralta died the following year before he could push the bill through the legislature.
Last year, Brooklyn state Assemblyman Peter Abbate introduced another bill to provide Familia’s two youngest children with benefits, but it was presented too late in the session and never voted on.
Now, the bill sponsored by Dinowitz and state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, D-Bronx, seeks to finalize the process.
“To add to the family’s pain, New York State does not recognize orphaned children of slain police officers in the same way it does spouses,” Rivera said Sunday. “Had Officer Familia been married, her spouse would receive her accidental death benefit for life.
“Because she was a single mother raising three children, her accidental death benefit terminates for each child when they reach the age of 21,” he said.
The new bill would provide Familia’s children pensions for life retroactive to the day of her death.
“Officer Familia was a hero cop who died a brutal death,” Dinowitz said. “Her three children should not be allowed to suffer. We have to stand up and do what’s right for the children of this police officer.”
