GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2025

H                                                                                                                                                    3

HOUSE BILL 97

Committee Substitute Favorable 4/30/25

Third Edition Engrossed 5/1/25

Short Title:      Support Firefighters Fighting Cancer.	(Public)
Sponsors:
Referred to:

February 12, 2025

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT including death due to CERTAIN CANCERS 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.

8. Prostate cancer.

9. Colon cancer."

SECTION 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2025, and applies to qualifying deaths occurring on or after that date.