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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2686 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2909
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Joseph W. McGonagle, Jr.
_________________
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act relative to the disability or death caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
_______________
PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Joseph W. McGonagle, Jr.28th Middlesex1/16/2025Marcus S. Vaughn9th Norfolk1/23/2025John J. Marsi6th Worcester1/23/2025Christopher Richard Flanagan1st Barnstable1/23/2025Angelo J. Puppolo, Jr.12th Hampden1/23/2025Steven George Xiarhos5th Barnstable1/23/2025David F. DeCoste5th Plymouth1/23/2025Paul K. Frost7th Worcester1/23/2025Paul McMurtry11th Norfolk1/23/2025Patrick Joseph Kearney4th Plymouth1/23/2025Dennis C. Gallagher8th Plymouth1/23/2025Rodney M. Elliott16th Middlesex1/23/2025Michael J. Soter8th Worcester1/23/2025Steven Ultrino33rd Middlesex1/24/2025Mark D. Sylvia10th Bristol1/29/2025Danillo A. Sena37th Middlesex1/29/2025Erika Uyterhoeven27th Middlesex1/30/2025Michael D. BradySecond Plymouth and Norfolk2/6/2025 2 of 2
Samantha Montaño15th Suffolk2/6/2025Alyson M. Sullivan-Almeida7th Plymouth2/6/2025Jacob R. OliveiraHampden, Hampshire and Worcester2/12/2025James K. Hawkins2nd Bristol2/12/2025Daniel Cahill10th Essex2/12/2025James C. Arena-DeRosa8th Middlesex2/12/2025James Arciero2nd Middlesex2/26/2025Natalie M. Higgins4th Worcester2/26/2025Bruce E. TarrFirst Essex and Middlesex2/27/2025Antonio F. D. Cabral13th Bristol3/6/2025 1 of 3
HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2686 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2909
By Representative McGonagle of Everett, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2909) of
Joseph W. McGonagle, Jr. and others relative to a post-traumatic stress disorder presumption for
certain retirement benefits. Public Service.
[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2594 OF 2023-2024.]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)
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An Act relative to the disability or death caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 Chapter 32 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 94B the
2following section:-
3 Section 94C. (a) As used in this section the following words shall, unless the context
4clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:
5 “Post-traumatic stress disorder”, a disorder that meets the diagnostic criteria for post-
6traumatic stress, specified by the American Psychiatric Association in the fifth edition of the
7Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders, or most recently published edition.
8 “Mental health professional”, a person with professional training, experience and
9demonstrated competence in the treatment and diagnosis of mental conditions, who is certified or 2 of 3
10licensed to provide mental health care services and for whom diagnosis of mental conditions are
11within their scope of practice, including a physician, nurse with recognized psychiatric
12specialties, psychiatrist, psychologist, clinical social worker, mental health counselor or alcohol
13and drug abuse counselor.
14 (b) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary relative to the non-
15contributory or contributory retirement system, any condition of impairment of health caused by
16post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosed by a mental health professional resulting in total or
17partial disability or death of: (1) a full-time uniformed member of a paid police department, paid
18fire department, paid municipal emergency medical service department, the police department of
19the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the state police or the public works building
20police, (2) any employee in the department of correction or a county correctional facility whose
21regular or incidental duties require the care, supervision or custody of prisoners, criminally
22insane persons or defective delinquents, (3) any permanent crash crewmen, crash boatman, fire
23controlman or assistant fire controlman employed at the General Edward Lawrence Logan
24International Airport, (4) the members of the 104th fighter wing fire department or (5) members
25of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department, shall if they successfully passed a
26physical examination on entry into said service, which examination failed to reveal any evidence
27of said condition, shall be presumed to have been suffered in the line of duty, unless it is shown
28by a preponderance of the evidence that the post-traumatic stress was caused by non-service
29connected risk factors or non-service connected exposure.
30 (c) Any person first diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder within 5 years of the
31last date on which said person actively served shall be eligible to apply for benefits pursuant to 3 of 3
32this section, and if granted, said benefits shall be payable as of the date on which the employee
33last received regular compensation.
34 (d) Post-traumatic stress disorder shall not be presumed to have been suffered in the line
35of duty of it results from any disciplinary action, work evaluation, job transfer, layoff, demotion,
36termination, resignation, retirement or similar bona fide personnel action taken in good faith by
37the employer.