GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2025

H                                                                                                                                                    1

HOUSE BILL 97

Short Title:      Support Firefighters Fighting Cancer.		(Public)
Sponsors:	Representatives Scott, Howard, Tyson, and Huneycutt (Primary Sponsors). For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to:	Appropriations, if favorable, Pensions and Retirement, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

February 12, 2025

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT including death due to stomach cancer in the list of firefighter deaths meeting the DEFINITION of killed in the line of duty under the public safety employees' death benefits act.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 143‑166.2(6) reads as rewritten:

"(6)      Killed in the line of duty. – This term shall apply to all of the following deaths:

…

e.         When the death of a firefighter occurs 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.         Cancer of the small intestine.

4.         Esophageal cancer.

5.         Oral cavity cancer.

6.         Pharynx cancer.

7. Cancer of the stomach, also known as gastric cancer."

SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of State Treasurer the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in recurring funds for each year of the 2025‑2027 fiscal biennium to be used for benefits payable under the Public Safety Employees' Death Benefits Act related to the implementation of this act.

SECTION 3.  This act is effective July 1, 2025, and applies to qualifying deaths occurring on or after that date.