I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1269
To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to
provide public safety officer benefits for exposure-related cancers, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY12, 2025
Ms. S
CANLON(for herself, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mr. FITZPATRICK, and Mr. AMO)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
A BILL
To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets
Act of 1968 to provide public safety officer benefits
for exposure-related cancers, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Honoring Our Fallen 4
Heroes Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. HONORING OUR FALLEN HEROES. 6
(a) C
ANCER-RELATEDDEATHS AND DISABIL-7
ITIES.— 8
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1201 of title I of the 1
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 2
1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281) is amended by adding at 3
the end the following: 4
‘‘(p) E
XPOSURE-RELATEDCANCERS.— 5
‘‘(1) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 6
‘‘(A) C
ARCINOGEN.—The term ‘carcinogen’ 7
means an agent that is— 8
‘‘(i) classified by the International 9
Agency for Research on Cancer under 10
Group 1 or Group 2A; and 11
‘‘(ii) reasonably linked to an exposure- 12
related cancer. 13
‘‘(B) D
IRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ 14
means the Director of the Bureau. 15
‘‘(C) E
XPOSURE-RELATED CANCER .—As 16
updated from time to time in accordance with 17
paragraph (3), the term ‘exposure-related can-18
cer’ means— 19
‘‘(i) bladder cancer; 20
‘‘(ii) brain cancer; 21
‘‘(iii) breast cancer; 22
‘‘(iv) cervical cancer; 23
‘‘(v) colon cancer; 24
‘‘(vi) colorectal cancer; 25
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‘‘(vii) esophageal cancer; 1
‘‘(viii) kidney cancer; 2
‘‘(ix) leukemia; 3
‘‘(x) lung cancer; 4
‘‘(xi) malignant melanoma; 5
‘‘(xii) mesothelioma; 6
‘‘(xiii) multiple myeloma; 7
‘‘(xiv) non-Hodgkins lymphoma; 8
‘‘(xv) ovarian cancer; 9
‘‘(xvi) prostate cancer; 10
‘‘(xvii) skin cancer; 11
‘‘(xviii) stomach cancer; 12
‘‘(xix) testicular cancer; 13
‘‘(xx) thyroid cancer; 14
‘‘(xxi) any form of cancer that is con-15
sidered a WTC-related health condition 16
under section 3312(a) of the Public Health 17
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300mm–22(a)); 18
and 19
‘‘(xxii) any form of cancer added to 20
this definition pursuant to an update in ac-21
cordance with paragraph (3). 22
‘‘(2) P
ERSONAL INJURY SUSTAINED IN THE 23
LINE OF DUTY.— 24
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-1
graph (B), as determined by the Bureau, the 2
exposure of a public safety officer to a car-3
cinogen shall be presumed to constitute a per-4
sonal injury within the meaning of subsection 5
(a) or (b) sustained in the line of duty by the 6
officer and directly and proximately resulting in 7
death or permanent and total disability, if— 8
‘‘(i) the exposure occurred while the 9
public safety officer was engaged in line of 10
duty action or activity; 11
‘‘(ii) the public safety officer began 12
serving as a public safety officer not fewer 13
than 5 years before the date of the diag-14
nosis of the public safety officer with an 15
exposure-related cancer; 16
‘‘(iii) the public safety officer was di-17
agnosed with the exposure-related cancer 18
not more than 15 years after the public 19
safety officer’s last date of active service as 20
a public safety officer; and 21
‘‘(iv) the exposure-related cancer di-22
rectly and proximately results in the death 23
or permanent and total disability of the 24
public safety officer. 25
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‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The presumption 1
under subparagraph (A) shall not apply if com-2
petent medical evidence establishes that the ex-3
posure of the public safety officer to the car-4
cinogen was not a substantial contributing fac-5
tor in the death or disability of the public safety 6
officer. 7
‘‘(3) A
DDITIONAL EXPOSURE -RELATED CAN-8
CERS.— 9
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—From time to time 10
but not less frequently than once every 3 years, 11
the Director shall— 12
‘‘(i) review the definition of ‘exposure- 13
related cancer’ under paragraph (1); and 14
‘‘(ii) if appropriate, update the defini-15
tion, in accordance with this paragraph— 16
‘‘(I) by rule; or 17
‘‘(II) by publication in the Fed-18
eral Register or on the public website 19
of the Bureau. 20
‘‘(B) B
ASIS FOR UPDATES.— 21
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Director shall 22
make an update under subparagraph 23
(A)(ii) in any case in which the Director 24
finds such an update to be appropriate 25
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based on competent medical evidence of 1
significant risk to public safety officers of 2
developing the form of exposure-related 3
cancer that is the subject of the update 4
from engagement in their public safety ac-5
tivities. 6
‘‘(ii) E
VIDENCE.—The competent 7
medical evidence described in clause (i) 8
may include recommendations, risk assess-9
ments, and scientific studies by— 10
‘‘(I) the National Institute for 11
Occupational Safety and Health; 12
‘‘(II) the National Toxicology 13
Program; 14
‘‘(III) the National Academies of 15
Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; 16
or 17
‘‘(IV) the International Agency 18
for Research on Cancer. 19
‘‘(C) P
ETITIONS TO ADD TO THE LIST OF 20
EXPOSURE-RELATED CANCERS.— 21
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Any person may 22
petition the Director to add a form of can-23
cer to the definition of ‘exposure-related 24
cancer’ under paragraph (1). 25
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‘‘(ii) CONTENT OF PETITION.—A peti-1
tion under clause (i) shall provide informa-2
tion to show that there is sufficient com-3
petent medical evidence of significant risk 4
to public safety officers of developing the 5
cancer from engagement in their public 6
safety activities. 7
‘‘(iii) T
IMELY AND SUBSTANTIVE DE -8
CISIONS.— 9
‘‘(I) R
EFERRAL.—Not later than 10
180 days after receipt of a petition 11
satisfying clause (ii), the Director 12
shall refer the petition to appropriate 13
medical experts for review, analysis 14
(including risk assessment and sci-15
entific study), and recommendation. 16
‘‘(II) C
ONSIDERATION.—The Di-17
rector shall consider each rec-18
ommendation under subclause (I) and 19
promptly take appropriate action in 20
connection with the recommendation 21
pursuant to subparagraph (B). 22
‘‘(iv) N
OTIFICATION TO CONGRESS .— 23
Not later than 30 days after taking any 24
substantive action in connection with a rec-25
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ommendation under clause (iii)(II), the Di-1
rector shall notify the Committee on the 2
Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee 3
on the Judiciary of the House of Rep-4
resentatives of the substantive action.’’. 5
(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by 6
paragraph (1) shall apply to any claim under— 7
(A) section 1201(a) of title I of the Omni-8
bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 9
1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281(a)) that is predicated 10
upon the death of a public safety officer on or 11
after January 1, 2020, that is the direct and 12
proximate result of an exposure-related cancer; 13
or 14
(B) section 1201(b) of title I of the Omni-15
bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 16
1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281(b)) that is filed on or 17
after January 1, 2020, and predicated upon a 18
disability that is the direct and proximate result 19
of an exposure-related cancer. 20
(3) T
IME FOR FILING CLAIM.—Notwithstanding 21
any other provision of law, an individual who desires 22
to file a claim that is predicated upon the amend-23
ment made by paragraph (1) shall not be precluded 24
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from filing such a claim within 3 years of the date 1
of enactment of this Act. 2
(b) C
ONFIDENTIALITY OFINFORMATION.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 812(a) of title I of 4
the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 5
1968 (34 U.S.C. 10231(a)) is amended— 6
(A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘fur-7
nished under this title by any person and iden-8
tifiable to any specific private person’’ and in-9
serting ‘‘furnished under any law to any compo-10
nent of the Office of Justice Programs, or fur-11
nished otherwise under this title, by any entity 12
or person, including any information identifi-13
able to any specific private person,’’; and 14
(B) in the second sentence, by striking 15
‘‘person furnishing such information’’ and in-16
serting ‘‘entity or person furnishing such infor-17
mation or to whom such information pertains’’. 18
(2) E
FFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.—The 19
amendments made by paragraph (1) shall— 20
(A) shall take effect for all purposes as if 21
enacted on December 27, 1979; and 22
(B) apply to any matter pending, before 23
the Department of Justice or otherwise, as of 24
the date of enactment of this Act. 25
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(c) TECHNICALAMENDMENTS.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 1201(o)(2) of title I 2
of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 3
of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281(o)(2)) is amended— 4
(A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘or 5
(b)’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)’’; 6
(B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘or 7
(b)’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)’’; and 8
(C) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘or 9
(b)’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)’’. 10
(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—The amendments made 11
by paragraph (1) shall apply to any matter pending 12
before the Department of Justice as of the date of 13
enactment of this Act. 14
SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 3 of the Safeguarding 16
America’s First Responders Act of 2020 (34 U.S.C. 17
10281 note) is amended by adding at the end the fol-18
lowing: 19
‘‘(d) D
EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘line of 20
duty action’ includes any action— 21
‘‘(1) in which a public safety officer engaged at 22
the direction of the agency served by the public safe-23
ty officer; or 24
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‘‘(2) the public safety officer is authorized or 1
obligated to perform.’’. 2
(b) A
PPLICABILITY.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The amendment made by 4
subsection (a) shall apply to any claim under section 5
3 of the Safeguarding America’s First Responders 6
Act of 2020 (34 U.S.C. 10281 note)— 7
(A) that is predicated upon the death of a 8
public safety officer on or after January 1, 9
2020; or 10
(B) that is— 11
(i) predicated upon the disability of a 12
public safety officer; and 13
(ii) filed on or after January 1, 2020. 14
(2) T
IME FOR FILING CLAIM.—Notwithstanding 15
any other provision of law, an individual who desires 16
to file a claim that is predicated upon the amend-17
ment made by subsection (a) shall not be precluded 18
from filing such a claim within 3 years of the date 19
of enactment of this Act. 20
Æ
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