GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2017

S                                                                                                                                                    D

SENATE BILL DRS55036-LR-50B*   (02/23)

 

 

 

Short Title:      Firefighters' Death Benefits/Cancers.

(Public)

Sponsors:

Senator Woodard (Primary Sponsor).

Referred to:

 

 

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT amending the list of cancers covered as occupational diseases for firefighters' death benefits.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 143‑166.2(c) reads as rewritten:

"(c)      The term "killed in the line of duty" shall apply to any law‑enforcement officer, firefighter, rescue squad worker who is killed or dies as a result of bodily injuries sustained or of extreme exercise or extreme activity experienced in the course and scope of his official duties while in the discharge of his official duty or duties. When applied to a senior member of the Civil Air Patrol as defined in this Article, "killed in the line of duty" shall mean any such senior member of the North Carolina Wing‑Civil Air Patrol who is killed or dies as a result of bodily injuries sustained or of extreme exercise or extreme activity experienced in the course and scope of his official duties while engaged in a State requested and approved mission pursuant to Article 13 of Chapter 143B of the General Statutes. For purposes of this Article, when a law enforcement officer, firefighter, rescue squad worker, or senior Civil Air Patrol member dies as the direct and proximate result of a myocardial infarction suffered while on duty or within 24 hours after participating in a training exercise or responding to an emergency situation, the law enforcement officer, firefighter, rescue squad worker, or senior Civil Air Patrol member is presumed to have been killed in the line of duty. For the purposes of this Article, when a firefighter dies as a direct and proximate result of any of the following cancers that are occupationally related to firefighting, that firefighter is presumed to have been killed in the line of duty:

(1)        Mesothelioma.

(2)        Testicular cancer.

(3)        Intestinal cancer.

(4)        Rectal cancer.

(5)        Esophageal cancer.

(6)        Oral cavity cancer.

(7)        Brain cancer.

(8)        Non‑Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

(9)        Multiple Myeloma."

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to deaths occurring on or after that date.