89R8159 RDS-D
By: Leo Wilson H.B. No. 2387
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the entitlement to benefits for chaplains employed by
certain fire departments, police departments, and other law
enforcement agencies.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 607.001, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 607.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "public safety
employee" means a peace officer, fire fighter, detention officer,
county jailer, or emergency medical services employee of this state
or a political subdivision of this state. For purposes of this
section, the term includes a chaplain as that term is defined by
Section 607.051.
SECTION 2. Section 607.051, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subdivision (5) to read as follows:
(5) "Chaplain" means an individual who is employed or
formally designated as a chaplain for:
(A) an organized volunteer firefighting unit or
other fire department of this state or of a political subdivision of
this state; or
(B) a law enforcement agency of this state or of a
political subdivision of this state.
SECTION 3. Sections 607.052(a), (b), (e), (g), and (h),
Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, this subchapter applies
only to a chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer,
firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician who:
(1) on becoming employed or during employment as a
chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace
officer, or emergency medical technician, received a physical
examination that failed to reveal evidence of the illness or
disease for which benefits or compensation are sought using a
presumption established by this subchapter;
(2) is employed for five or more years as a chaplain,
firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician,
except for the presumption under former Section 607.0545; and
(3) seeks benefits or compensation for a disease or
illness covered by this subchapter that is discovered during
employment as a chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer,
firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician.
(b) A presumption under this subchapter does not apply:
(1) to a determination of a survivor's eligibility for
benefits under Chapter 615;
(2) in a cause of action brought in a state or federal
court except for judicial review of a proceeding in which there has
been a grant or denial of employment-related benefits or
compensation;
(3) to a determination regarding benefits or
compensation under a life or disability insurance policy purchased
by or on behalf of the chaplain, detention officer, custodial
officer, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
technician that provides coverage in addition to any benefits or
compensation required by law; or
(4) if the disease or illness for which benefits or
compensation is sought is known to be caused by the use of tobacco
and:
(A) the chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or
emergency medical technician is or has been a user of tobacco; or
(B) the chaplain's, firefighter's, peace
officer's, or emergency medical technician's spouse has, during the
marriage, been a user of tobacco that is consumed through smoking.
(e) A chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer,
firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician who
uses a presumption established under this subchapter is entitled
only to the benefits or compensation to which the chaplain,
detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace officer,
or emergency medical technician would otherwise be entitled to
receive at the time the claim for benefits or compensation is filed.
(g) This subchapter applies to a chaplain, detention
officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace officer, or
emergency medical technician who provides services as an employee
of an entity created by an interlocal agreement.
(h) Subsection (b)(4) only prevents the application of the
presumption authorized by this subchapter and does not affect the
right of a chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency
medical technician to provide proof, without the use of that
presumption, that an injury or illness occurred during the course
and scope of employment.
SECTION 4. Sections 607.053(a), (c), and (d), Government
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) A chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency
medical technician is presumed to have suffered a disability or
death during the course and scope of employment if the chaplain,
firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician:
(1) received preventative immunization against
smallpox, or another disease to which the chaplain, firefighter,
peace officer, or emergency medical technician may be exposed
during the course and scope of employment and for which
immunization is possible; and
(2) suffered death or total or partial disability as a
result of the immunization.
(c) A presumption established under Subsection (a) may not
be rebutted by evidence that the immunization was:
(1) not required by the employer;
(2) not required by law; or
(3) received voluntarily or with the consent of the
chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
technician.
(d) A chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency
medical technician who suffers from smallpox that results in death
or total or partial disability is presumed to have contracted the
disease during the course and scope of employment as a chaplain,
firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician.
SECTION 5. Section 607.054, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 607.054. TUBERCULOSIS OR OTHER RESPIRATORY ILLNESS.
(a) A chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
technician who suffers from tuberculosis, or any other disease or
illness of the lungs or respiratory tract that has a statistically
positive correlation with service as a chaplain, firefighter, peace
officer, or emergency medical technician, that results in death or
total or partial disability is presumed to have contracted the
disease or illness during the course and scope of employment as a
chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
technician.
(b) This section does not apply to a claim that a chaplain,
firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician
suffers from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
(SARS-CoV-2) or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
SECTION 6. Section 607.056(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) A chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency
medical technician who suffers an acute myocardial infarction or
stroke resulting in disability or death is presumed to have
suffered the disability or death during the course and scope of
employment as a chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency
medical technician if:
(1) while on duty, the chaplain, firefighter, peace
officer, or emergency medical technician:
(A) was engaged in a situation that involved
nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity involving fire
suppression, rescue, hazardous material response, emergency
medical services, or other emergency response activity; or
(B) participated in a training exercise that
involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity; and
(2) the acute myocardial infarction or stroke occurred
while the chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency
medical technician was engaging in the activity described under
Subdivision (1).
SECTION 7. Section 607.057, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 607.057. EFFECT OF PRESUMPTION. Except as provided by
Section 607.052(b), a presumption established under this
subchapter applies to a determination of whether a chaplain's,
detention officer's, custodial officer's, firefighter's, peace
officer's, or emergency medical technician's disability or death
resulted from a disease or illness contracted in the course and
scope of employment for purposes of benefits or compensation
provided under another employee benefit, law, or plan, including a
pension plan.
SECTION 8. Section 607.058, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 607.058. PRESUMPTION REBUTTABLE. (a) A presumption
under Section 607.053, 607.054, [607.0545,] 607.055, or 607.056 or
former Section 607.0545 may be rebutted through a showing by a
preponderance of the evidence that a risk factor, accident, hazard,
or other cause not associated with the individual's service as a
chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace
officer, or emergency medical technician was a substantial factor
in bringing about the individual's disease or illness, without
which the disease or illness would not have occurred.
(b) A rebuttal offered under this section must include a
statement by the person offering the rebuttal that describes, in
detail, the evidence that the person reviewed before making the
determination that a cause not associated with the individual's
service as a chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer,
firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician was a
substantial factor in bringing about the individual's disease or
illness, without which the disease or illness would not have
occurred.
(c) In addressing an argument based on a rebuttal offered
under this section, an administrative law judge shall make findings
of fact and conclusions of law that consider whether a qualified
expert, relying on evidence-based medicine, stated the opinion
that, based on reasonable medical probability, an identified risk
factor, accident, hazard, or other cause not associated with the
individual's service as a chaplain, detention officer, custodial
officer, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
technician was a substantial factor in bringing about the
individual's disease or illness, without which the disease or
illness would not have occurred.
SECTION 9. Sections 504.019(b) and (c), Labor Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(b) Post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by a first
responder or an individual employed as a chaplain by a fire
department or law enforcement organization of a political
subdivision of this state is a compensable injury under this
subtitle only if it is based on a diagnosis that:
(1) the disorder is caused by one or more events
occurring in the course and scope of the first responder's or
chaplain's employment; and
(2) the preponderance of the evidence indicates that
the event or events were a producing cause of the disorder.
(c) For purposes of this subtitle, the date of injury for
post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by a first responder or
chaplain described by Subsection (b) is the date on which the first
responder or chaplain first knew or should have known that the
disorder may be related to the first responder's or chaplain's
employment.
SECTION 10. Sections 177A.003(a), (c), and (d), Local
Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) A political subdivision shall provide to a firefighter,
police officer, [or] emergency medical services personnel, or
individual employed as a chaplain by a fire department or police
department of a political subdivision a leave of absence for an
illness or injury related to the person's line of duty. The leave
is with full pay for a period commensurate with the nature of the
line of duty illness or injury. If necessary, the political
subdivision shall continue the leave for at least one year.
(c) If the firefighter, police officer, [or] emergency
medical services personnel, or individual employed as a chaplain by
a fire department or police department of a political subdivision
is temporarily disabled by a line of duty injury or illness and the
leave of absence and any extension granted by the governing body has
expired, the person may use accumulated sick leave, vacation time,
and other accrued benefits before the person is placed on temporary
leave.
(d) If the leave of absence and any extension granted by the
governing body has expired, a firefighter, police officer, [or]
emergency medical services personnel, or individual employed as a
chaplain by a fire department or police department of a political
subdivision who requires additional leave described by this section
shall be placed on temporary leave.
SECTION 11. The changes in law made by this Act to Chapter
607, Government Code, apply only to a claim for benefits or
compensation brought on or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 12. Section 504.019, Labor Code, as amended by this
Act, applies only to a claim for workers' compensation benefits
based on a compensable injury that occurs on or after the effective
date of this Act. A claim based on a compensable injury that occurs
before that date is governed by the law as it existed on the date the
compensable injury occurred, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 13. The changes in law made by this Act to Chapter
177A, Local Government Code, apply only to a collective bargaining,
meet and confer, or other similar agreement entered into on or after
the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 14. This Act takes effect immediately if it
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2025.