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OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 313 (File 367, as amended by Senate “A”)*
AN ACT CONCERNING ADOPTION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS
OF THE TASK FORCE TO STUDY CANCER RELIEF BENEFITS FOR
FIREFIGHTERS.
SUMMARY
This bill requires each town to make specific contributions to the
state’s firefighters cancer relief account, which is used to provide wage
replacement benefits to eligible paid and volunteer firefighters
diagnosed with cancer. Beginning July 1, 2023, each town must
generally contribute, by December 15 of each year, (1) $10 per career
firefighter (i.e., presumably, paid firefighter) within the town and (2) $5
per volunteer firefighter within the town’s volunteer district or districts.
However, the bill only requires towns to contribute funds for
firefighters who meet certain work experience and other criteria.
The bill also requires the:
1. Labor Department’s (DOL) Division of Occupational Safety and
Health (CONN-OSHA) to adopt the 2018 Lavender Ribbon
Report Best Practices for Preventing Firefighter Cancer (see
BACKGROUND) (§ 1);
2. Workers’ Compensation Commission to (a) maintain a record of
all firefighters’ workers’ compensation claims made due to a
cancer diagnosis and (b) report a summary of the records to the
Labor Committee each year by January 1 (§ 3); and
3. comptroller to conduct a feasibility study on providing pension
benefits to firefighters in circumstances when the required
pension service years are not met due to early retirement
resulting from a qualifying cancer diagnosis (§ 6).
*Senate Amendment “A” strikes the underlying bill’s provisions (1) 2022SB-00313-R01-BA.DOCX
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creating a rebuttable presumption for workers’ compensation benefits
when a paid or volunteer firefighter is diagnosed with cancer that the
disease is due to on-duty exposures as a firefighter and the related
qualifications for the presumption (§ 2); (2) eliminating the option for a
fire department to purchase a separate private insurance policy to cover
firefighters’ illnesses or injuries arising out of, and in the course of,
employment, rather than purchasing workers’ compensation coverage
for work-related cancer (§ 2); (3) repealing language that bars a
firefighter from receiving benefits from the firefighters cancer relief
program or other wage replacement program while also receiving
workers’ compensation benefits for a work-related cancer diagnosis (§
4); (4) replacing the term “employee” with “claimant” in the law that
requires employers to continue employee insurance coverage while he
or she is eligible for, or receiving, workers’ compensation benefits (§ 5);
(5) requiring a volunteer fire department or volunteer ambulance
company to comply with CONN-OSHA as an employer unless it can
show that it is under federal OSHA jurisdiction (§§ 7 & 8); (6) reducing
the penalty that volunteer fire departments and ambulance companies
can face for non-serious violations of certain CONN-OSHA laws and
regulations (§ 9); and (7) appropriating $1.2 million to the firefighters
cancer relief account (§ 10). The amendment (1) adds the requirement
that towns make annual contributions to the firefighters cancer relief
account and the provision stating that an award from that account has
no bearing on a workers’ compensation claim and (2) requires CONN-
OSHA to adopt the 2018 Lavender Ribbon Report Best Practices for
Preventing Firefighter Cancer rather than the International Association
of Fire Chiefs’ Best Practices for Preventing Firefighter Cancer.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage, except July 1, 2023, for the
provisions related to CONN-OSHA and the municipal contributions to
the firefighters cancer relief account.
§ 1 — CONN-OSHA PRACTICES
In addition to requiring CONN-OSHA to adopt the Lavender Ribbon
Report Best Practices for Preventing Firefighter Cancer, the bill also
requires it to adopt a practice requiring that all firefighters be provided 2022SB-00313-R01-BA.DOCX
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with at least two sets of turnout gear. The bill states that this would
ensure clean gear is worn while any contaminated gear is properly
cleaned. However, the bill exempts towns with populations of less than
50,000 from this turnout gear requirement for their volunteer firefighters
if each volunteer firehouse is equipped with advanced cleaning washer
and extractor capabilities as specified in NFPA 1851. (National Fire
Protection Association Standard 1851 addresses selection, care, and
maintenance of firefighter protective ensembles.)
§ 4 — FIREFIGHTERS CANCER RELIEF PROGRAM
Under existing law, a cancer relief subcommittee of the Connecticut
State Firefighters Association awards wage replacement benefits under
the state’s firefighters cancer relief program. The bill provides that such
an award does not create a presumption that the firefighter’s cancer was
work-related for purposes of seeking a workers’ compensation claim for
the cancer. It further provides that nothing in the program’s law may be
construed to diminish or affect in any manner a firefighter’s rights and
benefits or any rights and defenses that an employer may have under
the state’s workers’ compensation law.
§ 6 — PENSION STUDY REGARDING EARLY RETIREMENT DUE TO
CANCER
The bill requires the comptroller to study the feasibility of providing
pension benefits in circumstances when a firefighter’s years of service
do not meet the full pension requirement because of an early retirement
due to a qualifying cancer diagnosis. The study must examine the
feasibility of implementing a prorated benefit for early retirement
situations.
The comptroller must report the findings and any recommendations
to the Labor Committee. (The bill does not provide a deadline for the
study.)
§ 501 — MUNICIPAL PAYMENTS INTO THE FIREFIGHTERS
CANCER RELIEF ACCOUNT
Regarding the bill’s requirements concerning a town’s annual
contributions to the state’s firefighters cancer relief account, the 2022SB-00313-R01-BA.DOCX
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contributions must be based on the current number of career and
volunteer firefighters within the town at the time of contribution.
Towns must only contribute funds for firefighters who have served
at least five years as (1) an interior structural firefighter at a paid
municipal, state, or volunteer fire department or (2) a local fire marshal,
deputy fire marshal, fire investigator, fire inspector, or other class of
inspector or investigator whose position meets minimum qualifications
under state law set by the state fire marshal and the Codes and
Standards Committee. Further, the firefighters must also have (1)
submitted to annual physical examinations, subsequent to entry, that
failed to reveal evidence of cancer or a propensity for cancer and (2) not
used cigarettes or any other tobacco products, as defined in state law,
within 15 years.
BACKGROUND
Lavender Ribbon Report
The National Volunteer Fire Council and International Association of
Fire Chiefs’ Volunteer and Combination Officers Section jointly
produced the Lavender Ribbon Report, which presents best practices for
mitigating the risk of cancer for firefighters. It was most recently
updated in 2021.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 12 Nay 0 (03/22/2022)