II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 237
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY23, 2025
Ms. K
LOBUCHAR(for herself, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. BANKS, Mr. BARRASSO, Mrs.
B
LACKBURN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. COONS, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. CRUZ,
Ms. D
UCKWORTH, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mrs. FISCHER, Mr.
G
RAHAM, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. JUSTICE, MR. KELLY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr.
P
ADILLA, Mr. ROUNDS, Mr. SCHIFF, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. SHEEHY, Ms.
S
MITH, Mr. WARNER, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and
Mr. W
YDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
ferred 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
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SEC. 2. HONORING OUR FALLEN HEROES. 1
(a) C
ANCER-RELATEDDEATHS AND DISABIL-2
ITIES.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 1201 of title I of the 4
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 5
1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281) is amended by adding at 6
the end the following: 7
‘‘(p) E
XPOSURE-RELATEDCANCERS.— 8
‘‘(1) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 9
‘‘(A) C
ARCINOGEN.—The term ‘carcinogen’ 10
means an agent that is— 11
‘‘(i) classified by the International 12
Agency for Research on Cancer under 13
Group 1 or Group 2A; and 14
‘‘(ii) reasonably linked to an exposure- 15
related cancer. 16
‘‘(B) D
IRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ 17
means the Director of the Bureau. 18
‘‘(C) E
XPOSURE-RELATED CANCER .—As 19
updated from time to time in accordance with 20
paragraph (3), the term ‘exposure-related can-21
cer’ means— 22
‘‘(i) bladder cancer; 23
‘‘(ii) brain cancer; 24
‘‘(iii) breast cancer; 25
‘‘(iv) cervical cancer; 26
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‘‘(v) colon cancer; 1
‘‘(vi) colorectal cancer; 2
‘‘(vii) esophageal cancer; 3
‘‘(viii) kidney cancer; 4
‘‘(ix) leukemia; 5
‘‘(x) lung cancer; 6
‘‘(xi) malignant melanoma; 7
‘‘(xii) mesothelioma; 8
‘‘(xiii) multiple myeloma; 9
‘‘(xiv) non-Hodgkins lymphoma; 10
‘‘(xv) ovarian cancer; 11
‘‘(xvi) prostate cancer; 12
‘‘(xvii) skin cancer; 13
‘‘(xviii) stomach cancer; 14
‘‘(xix) testicular cancer; 15
‘‘(xx) thyroid cancer; 16
‘‘(xxi) any form of cancer that is con-17
sidered a WTC-related health condition 18
under section 3312(a) of the Public Health 19
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300mm–22(a)); 20
and 21
‘‘(xxii) any form of cancer added to 22
this definition pursuant to an update in ac-23
cordance with paragraph (3). 24
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‘‘(2) PERSONAL INJURY SUSTAINED IN THE 1
LINE OF DUTY.— 2
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-3
graph (B), as determined by the Bureau, the 4
exposure of a public safety officer to a car-5
cinogen shall be presumed to constitute a per-6
sonal injury within the meaning of subsection 7
(a) or (b) sustained in the line of duty by the 8
officer and directly and proximately resulting in 9
death or permanent and total disability, if— 10
‘‘(i) the exposure occurred while the 11
public safety officer was engaged in line of 12
duty action or activity; 13
‘‘(ii) the public safety officer began 14
serving as a public safety officer not fewer 15
than 5 years before the date of the diag-16
nosis of the public safety officer with an 17
exposure-related cancer; 18
‘‘(iii) the public safety officer was di-19
agnosed with the exposure-related cancer 20
not more than 15 years after the public 21
safety officer’s last date of active service as 22
a public safety officer; and 23
‘‘(iv) the exposure-related cancer di-24
rectly and proximately results in the death 25
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or permanent and total disability of the 1
public safety officer. 2
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTION.—The presumption 3
under subparagraph (A) shall not apply if com-4
petent medical evidence establishes that the ex-5
posure of the public safety officer to the car-6
cinogen was not a substantial contributing fac-7
tor in the death or disability of the public safety 8
officer. 9
‘‘(3) A
DDITIONAL EXPOSURE -RELATED CAN-10
CERS.— 11
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—From time to time 12
but not less frequently than once every 3 years, 13
the Director shall— 14
‘‘(i) review the definition of ‘exposure- 15
related cancer’ under paragraph (1); and 16
‘‘(ii) if appropriate, update the defini-17
tion, in accordance with this paragraph— 18
‘‘(I) by rule; or 19
‘‘(II) by publication in the Fed-20
eral Register or on the public website 21
of the Bureau. 22
‘‘(B) B
ASIS FOR UPDATES.— 23
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Director shall 24
make an update under subparagraph 25
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(A)(ii) in any case in which the Director 1
finds such an update to be appropriate 2
based on competent medical evidence of 3
significant risk to public safety officers of 4
developing the form of exposure-related 5
cancer that is the subject of the update 6
from engagement in their public safety ac-7
tivities. 8
‘‘(ii) E
VIDENCE.—The competent 9
medical evidence described in clause (i) 10
may include recommendations, risk assess-11
ments, and scientific studies by— 12
‘‘(I) the National Institute for 13
Occupational Safety and Health; 14
‘‘(II) the National Toxicology 15
Program; 16
‘‘(III) the National Academies of 17
Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; 18
or 19
‘‘(IV) the International Agency 20
for Research on Cancer. 21
‘‘(C) P
ETITIONS TO ADD TO THE LIST OF 22
EXPOSURE-RELATED CANCERS.— 23
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Any person may 24
petition the Director to add a form of can-25
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cer to the definition of ‘exposure-related 1
cancer’ under paragraph (1). 2
‘‘(ii) C
ONTENT OF PETITION.—A peti-3
tion under clause (i) shall provide informa-4
tion to show that there is sufficient com-5
petent medical evidence of significant risk 6
to public safety officers of developing the 7
cancer from engagement in their public 8
safety activities. 9
‘‘(iii) T
IMELY AND SUBSTANTIVE DE -10
CISIONS.— 11
‘‘(I) R
EFERRAL.—Not later than 12
180 days after receipt of a petition 13
satisfying clause (ii), the Director 14
shall refer the petition to appropriate 15
medical experts for review, analysis 16
(including risk assessment and sci-17
entific study), and recommendation. 18
‘‘(II) C
ONSIDERATION.—The Di-19
rector shall consider each rec-20
ommendation under subclause (I) and 21
promptly take appropriate action in 22
connection with the recommendation 23
pursuant to subparagraph (B). 24
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‘‘(iv) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS .— 1
Not later than 30 days after taking any 2
substantive action in connection with a rec-3
ommendation under clause (iii)(II), the Di-4
rector shall notify the Committee on the 5
Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee 6
on the Judiciary of the House of Rep-7
resentatives of the substantive action.’’. 8
(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by 9
paragraph (1) shall apply to any claim under— 10
(A) section 1201(a) of title I of the Omni-11
bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 12
1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281(a)) that is predicated 13
upon the death of a public safety officer on or 14
after January 1, 2020, that is the direct and 15
proximate result of an exposure-related cancer; 16
or 17
(B) section 1201(b) of title I of the Omni-18
bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 19
1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281(b)) that is filed on or 20
after January 1, 2020, and predicated upon a 21
disability that is the direct and proximate result 22
of an exposure-related cancer. 23
(3) T
IME FOR FILING CLAIM.—Notwithstanding 24
any other provision of law, an individual who desires 25
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to file a claim that is predicated upon the amend-1
ment made by paragraph (1) shall not be precluded 2
from filing such a claim within 3 years of the date 3
of enactment of this Act. 4
(b) C
ONFIDENTIALITY OFINFORMATION.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 812(a) of title I of 6
the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 7
1968 (34 U.S.C. 10231(a)) is amended— 8
(A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘fur-9
nished under this title by any person and iden-10
tifiable to any specific private person’’ and in-11
serting ‘‘furnished under any law to any compo-12
nent of the Office of Justice Programs, or fur-13
nished otherwise under this title, by any entity 14
or person, including any information identifi-15
able to any specific private person,’’; and 16
(B) in the second sentence, by striking 17
‘‘person furnishing such information’’ and in-18
serting ‘‘entity or person furnishing such infor-19
mation or to whom such information pertains’’. 20
(2) E
FFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.—The 21
amendments made by paragraph (1) shall— 22
(A) shall take effect for all purposes as if 23
enacted on December 27, 1979; and 24
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(B) apply to any matter pending, before 1
the Department of Justice or otherwise, as of 2
the date of enactment of this Act. 3
(c) T
ECHNICALAMENDMENTS.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 1201(o)(2) of title I 5
of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 6
of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281(o)(2)) is amended— 7
(A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘or 8
(b)’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)’’; 9
(B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘or 10
(b)’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)’’; and 11
(C) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘or 12
(b)’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)’’. 13
(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—The amendments made 14
by paragraph (1) shall apply to any matter pending 15
before the Department of Justice as of the date of 16
enactment of this Act. 17
SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 3 of the Safeguarding 19
America’s First Responders Act of 2020 (34 U.S.C. 20
10281 note) is amended by adding at the end the fol-21
lowing: 22
‘‘(d) D
EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘line of 23
duty action’ includes any action— 24
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‘‘(1) in which a public safety officer engaged at 1
the direction of the agency served by the public safe-2
ty officer; or 3
‘‘(2) the public safety officer is authorized or 4
obligated to perform.’’. 5
(b) A
PPLICABILITY.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The amendment made by 7
subsection (a) shall apply to any claim under section 8
3 of the Safeguarding America’s First Responders 9
Act of 2020 (34 U.S.C. 10281 note)— 10
(A) that is predicated upon the death of a 11
public safety officer on or after January 1, 12
2020; or 13
(B) that is— 14
(i) predicated upon the disability of a 15
public safety officer; and 16
(ii) filed on or after January 1, 2020. 17
(2) T
IME FOR FILING CLAIM.—Notwithstanding 18
any other provision of law, an individual who desires 19
to file a claim that is predicated upon the amend-20
ment made by subsection (a) shall not be precluded 21
from filing such a claim within 3 years of the date 22
of enactment of this Act. 23
Æ
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