Pennsylvania police unions are pushing lawmakers in Harrisburg to approve a bill that would increase payments to the families of officers in large city departments -- including Pittsburgh's police bureau -- who are killed on the job.

Union officials feel a sense of urgency because the 2007-08 legislative session is scheduled to come to a close this week, meaning the bill would die in committee.

Under current law, the state continues to pay a family 100 percent of the salary of a deceased officer from a borough or township with at least three or more full-time officers. A spouse receives that money for life, and children receive it until they are 18, or 23 if they go to college.

But officers from the state's largest police departments -- including Allentown, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton, York and the Pennsylvania State Police -- all have different death benefit plans.

The city of Pittsburgh pays 50 percent of an officer's salary to a spouse, while covering health benefits for the spouse and children for a year after the officer's death, according to local union officials.

Philadelphia, which has lost four officers in the last year, covers up to 60 percent of the salary. State police use a formula based on a trooper's years of service.

Senate Bill 1112, first introduced in the Legislature in October 2007, would require the state to cover the additional costs of a 100 percent salary death benefit for family members.

A surviving spouse would receive $100,000, and then monthly payments equal to the officer's salary. If the officer had no spouse at the time of death, then the officer's child or children would receive payments.

"Our officers are on the front lines every day, risking their lives," said Les Neri, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Pennsylvania State Lodge. "We're just asking that if an officer makes the ultimate sacrifice, their family is taken care of."

On Oct. 7, the state Senate voted 49-0 for the bill, and the House Finance Committee approved it on Wednesday.

Now the House Appropriations Committee must approve the bill before the full state House can vote on it in the final days of the legislative session.

Johnna Pro, a spokeswoman for the appropriations committee, last week said the bill isn't yet on the agenda.

"We just received it," she said. "We haven't even had a chance for our analysts to look at it."

Lawmakers are also distracted by a brewing battle over leadership posts following the Nov. 4 election.

If the death benefit bill isn't approved this week, lawmakers would have to reintroduce it in 2009.

Union officials from across the state are lobbying for it to be taken up before then. Charles Hanlon, vice president of the Pittsburgh Fraternal Order of Police, was in Harrisburg last week to meet with lawmakers.

In the past six years, 28 police officers have been killed in the line of duty across Pennsylvania, including nine Philadelphia officers and four state troopers, according to the FOP. The families of only eight of the 28 officers are receiving 100 percent salary benefits.

Those who aren't include relatives of Philadelphia Police Sgt. Patrick McDonald, who was shot to death Sept. 23 as he chased a man after a traffic stop.

The most recent line-of-duty death in the Pittsburgh region occurred Nov. 4, when Nathaniel M. Burnfield, a South Strabane police officer, was hit by a dump truck as he tried to remove a tire blocking traffic on Interstate 70. He was not married and had no children.

On Dec. 12, 2005, state police Cpl. Joseph R. Pokorny was shot to death with his own gun, following a traffic stop near Carnegie. Cpl. Pokorny was not married at the time of his death, but he had two teenage children, said Bruce Edwards, president of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association.

"We're always worried about our families, our spouses and our kids. This takes the worry away," he said of Senate Bill 1112.