I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2244
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish presumptions of service
connection for diseases associated with firefighting.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH21, 2025
Mr. B
ACONintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish presump-
tions of service connection for diseases associated with
firefighting.
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 ‘‘Michael Lecik Military 4
Firefighters Protection Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. PRESUMPTIONS OF SERVICE CONNECTION FOR DIS-6
EASES ASSOCIATED WITH FIREFIGHTING. 7
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—Subchapter II of chapter 11 8
of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at 9
the end the following new section: 10
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‘‘§ 1120A. Presumptions of service connection for dis-1
eases associated with firefighting 2
‘‘(a) S
ERVICECONNECTION.—For the purposes of 3
section 1110 of this title, and subject to section 1113 of 4
this title, a disease specified in subsection (b) becoming 5
manifest in a veteran described in subsection (c) to a de-6
gree of disability specified in subsection (d) and within the 7
period specified in subsection (e) shall be considered to 8
have been incurred in or aggravated during active military, 9
naval, or air service, notwithstanding that there is no 10
record of evidence of such disease during a period of such 11
service. 12
‘‘(b) S
PECIFIEDDISEASES.—The diseases specified 13
in this subsection are the following: 14
‘‘(1) Heart disease. 15
‘‘(2) Lung disease. 16
‘‘(3) Brain cancer. 17
‘‘(4) Cancer of the blood or lymphatic systems. 18
‘‘(5) Leukemia. 19
‘‘(6) Lymphoma (except Hodgkin’s disease). 20
‘‘(7) Multiple myeloma. 21
‘‘(8) Bladder cancer. 22
‘‘(9) Kidney cancer. 23
‘‘(10) Cancer of the reproductive system (in-24
cluding testicular cancer). 25
‘‘(11) Cancer of the digestive system. 26
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‘‘(12) Colon cancer. 1
‘‘(13) Liver cancer. 2
‘‘(14) Skin cancer. 3
‘‘(15) Lung cancer. 4
‘‘(16) Breast cancer. 5
‘‘(17) Each additional disease (if any) that the 6
Secretary determines in regulations prescribed under 7
this section— 8
‘‘(A) warrants a presumption of service 9
connection by reason of having positive associa-10
tion with firefighting; and 11
‘‘(B) becomes manifest within the period 12
(if any) prescribed in such regulations in a vet-13
eran described in subsection (c), notwithstand-14
ing subsection (e). 15
‘‘(c) C
OVEREDVETERANS.—A veteran described in 16
this subsection is a veteran who— 17
‘‘(1) is trained in fire suppression; and 18
‘‘(2) served on active duty in a military occupa-19
tional specialty or career field with a primary re-20
sponsibility for firefighting or damage control for at 21
least five years in the aggregate. 22
‘‘(d) D
EGREE OFDISABILITY.—The degree of dis-23
ability specified in this subsection is 10 percent or more. 24
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‘‘(e) PERIOD.—The period specified in this subsection 1
is within 15 years of the date on which the veteran sepa-2
rated from active military, naval, or air service. 3
‘‘(f) E
FFECTIVEDATE OFAWARD.—The effective 4
date of an award under this section shall be determined 5
in accordance with section 5110 of this title.’’. 6
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 7
at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 8
after the item relating to section 1120 the following new 9
item: 10
‘‘1120A. Presumptions of service connection for diseases associated with fire-
fighting.’’.
Æ
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