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Committee amends bill to recognize firefighter cancers as line-of-duty deaths; family urges presumptive rule
Summary
The House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee adopted an amendment to House File 4446 to align look-back dates and advanced provisions to expand line-of-duty recognition for firefighter occupational cancers; a family member urged the committee to make cancer presumptive so families receive benefits without protracted administrative burdens.
The House Committee on Public Safety Finance and Policy adopted an amendment to House File 4446 and laid the bill over as amended after testimony from a firefighter’s family and bipartisan sponsor remarks.
Representative Johnson moved the DE2 amendment and nonpartisan staff explained an oral change that deletes 02/01/2020 and inserts 01/01/2020 to align two look-back periods. The committee adopted the oral amendment and the DE2 as amended by voice vote.
Julie Piter, who identified herself as the spouse of a firefighter who contracted cancer while serving, urged passage of HF 4446 and asked the committee to establish a presumptive rule that treats occupational cancer as a line-of-duty death. "The state's acknowledgment of cancer as a line of duty death can't be on a case by case basis. It must be presumptive," Piter said, describing the administrative hurdles her family faced and saying the bill mirrors recent federal legislation.
Representative Knudson noted her portion of the bill would add part-time and paid on-call firefighters to line-of-duty death eligibility, expanding current coverage that applied only to volunteers and full-time firefighters. Representative Repinski, speaking as a former volunteer and paid on-call firefighter, said the change was long overdue and thanked sponsors for bipartisan work.
Sponsor Representative Johnson said the package also includes clarifications to align certain federal definitions and thanked advocates and staff for negotiating language that creates a clearer path for survivors to receive benefits and recognition.
Action: the committee adopted the DE2 as amended (including the oral date change) and laid HF 4446 over as amended for further consideration. No roll-call vote was recorded; approval was by voice vote.
The committee did not take final action on the bill; the next procedural step is consideration on a future committee or floor calendar.
