SB189INTRODUCED
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SB189
B6BTJQJ-1
By Senator Weaver
RFD: Finance and Taxation General Fund
First Read: 20-Feb-25
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5 B6BTJQJ-1 02/03/2025 JC (L)lg 2025-479
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First Read: 20-Feb-25
SYNOPSIS:
Existing law provides compensation for paid
firefighters who contract cancer on the job, but makes
no similar provision for volunteer firefighters.
This bill would provide compensation to the
survivors of a volunteer firefighter who dies of
work-related cancer by making them eligible for the
death benefit awarded by the State Board of Adjustment
for first responders who die in the line of duty.
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to volunteer firefighters; to provide
compensation to beneficiaries or dependents of active
volunteer firefighters who die of cancer through the existing
line of duty death benefit under Article 1, Chapter 30, Title
36, Code of Alabama 1975; and to provide for circumstances
qualifying for the claim and a standard of proof.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. (a) For the purposes of this section, the
following terms have the following meanings:
(1) CANCER. Includes bladder, blood, brain, breast,
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(1) CANCER. Includes bladder, blood, brain, breast,
cervical, esophageal, intestinal, kidney, lymphatic, lung,
prostate, rectum, respiratory tract, skin, testicular, and
thyroid cancer, leukemia, multiple myeloma, Hodgkin's
lymphoma, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
(2) VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER. An individual who has been
certified as a volunteer fire fighter through the Alabama
Firefighters' Personnel Standards and Education Commission or
who has received an equivalent certification to qualify as a
volunteer firefighter before residing in this state.
(b) The death of a volunteer firefighter resulting from
cancer may be compensable as a death in the line of duty under
Article 1, Chapter 30, Title 36, Code of Alabama 1975, if all
of the following facts and circumstances are presented with a
claim for compensation made by or on behalf of a beneficiary
or dependent in the manner prescribed by the State Board of
Adjustment:
(1) The firefighter passed a physical examination
before initial certification as a volunteer firefighter which
failed to reveal any evidence of cancer.
(2) The firefighter had no less than six years of
service as a firefighter before receiving a diagnosis of
cancer.
(3) The firefighter was an active member of a volunteer
fire department as recognized by the Alabama Forestry
Commission or was an active volunteer member of a combination
paid and volunteer fire department in this state at the time
of the onset of the symptoms that led to a diagnosis of
cancer.
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cancer.
(4) The department for which the firefighter
volunteered maintains a record indicating that the fire
suppression events in which the firefighter participated
exposed the firefighter to a known carcinogen.
(c)(1) The provisions of Article 1, Chapter 30, Title
36, Code of Alabama 1975, shall govern any claim for
compensation arising from this section.
(2) If a known carcinogen to which a volunteer
firefighter was exposed while in the line of duty is
reasonably linked to the type of cancer that resulted in the
death of the firefighter, the cancer shall be presumed to
arise out of and in the course of the firefighter's volunteer
service, unless the state demonstrates by a preponderance of
the evidence that the cancer was caused by some other means.
(d) Where any provision of this section may be in
conflict with any provision of Article 1, Chapter 30, Title
36, Code of Alabama 1975, the provision of this section will
be given effect.
Section 2. This act shall become effective on October
1, 2025.
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