Police officers, firefighters, and other public safety officers who develop cancer linked to on-the-job chemical exposure would get an easier path to federal death and disability benefits under this bill. It creates a legal presumption that around 20 specific cancers — including leukemia, lung cancer, and mesothelioma — were caused by the job, as long as the officer served at least 5 years before diagnosis and was diagnosed within 15 years of leaving service. Families can still lose that presumption if medical evidence shows the cancer wasn't actually caused by work exposure. The bill also lets any officer diagnosed with a covered cancer since 2020 file a benefits claim within 3 years of the law's enactment, and it broadens confidentiality protections for personal information submitted to the Justice Department's benefits programs, applying that protection retroactively to 1979.
Civil Liberties
- Confidentiality protections — Broadened for private information held by DOJ's Office of Justice Programs
Transparency & Accountability
- Congressional notification — Director must report cancer-list updates to Judiciary Committees within 30 days
Congressional Summary
Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act of 2025This bill extends death and disability benefits under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program (PSOB) to certain public safety officers who suffer from exposure-related cancer while on duty and their survivors. The PSOB program provides death, disability, and education benefits to public safety officers who are killed or injured in the line of duty and their survivors.The bill specifies that exposure to a carcinogen shall be presumed to constitute a personal injury in the line of duty ifthe exposure occurred while the officer was in the line of duty;the officer began serving as an officer not fewer than 5 years before the date of the diagnosis of an exposure-related cancer and the diagnosis occurred not more than 15 years after the last date of active service; andthe exposure-related cancer directly and proximately resulted in the death or permanent and total disability of the officer.The Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance must periodically review the definition of exposure-related cancer and update the definition if appropriate based on medical evidence and in accordance with the requirements of a petition process.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-01-23
- Date Added
- 2026-07-11
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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