89R8159 RDS-D

By: Leo Wilson H.B. No. 2387

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the entitlement to benefits for chaplains employed by certain fire departments, police departments, and other law enforcement agencies.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 607.001, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 607.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "public safety employee" means a peace officer, fire fighter, detention officer, county jailer, or emergency medical services employee of this state or a political subdivision of this state. For purposes of this section, the term includes a chaplain as that term is defined by Section 607.051.

SECTION 2. Section 607.051, Government Code, is amended by adding Subdivision (5) to read as follows:

(5) "Chaplain" means an individual who is employed or formally designated as a chaplain for:

(A) an organized volunteer firefighting unit or other fire department of this state or of a political subdivision of this state; or

(B) a law enforcement agency of this state or of a political subdivision of this state.

SECTION 3. Sections 607.052(a), (b), (e), (g), and (h), Government Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, this subchapter applies only to a chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician who:

(1) on becoming employed or during employment as a chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician, received a physical examination that failed to reveal evidence of the illness or disease for which benefits or compensation are sought using a presumption established by this subchapter;

(2) is employed for five or more years as a chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician, except for the presumption under former Section 607.0545; and

(3) seeks benefits or compensation for a disease or illness covered by this subchapter that is discovered during employment as a chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician.

(b) A presumption under this subchapter does not apply:

(1) to a determination of a survivor's eligibility for benefits under Chapter 615;

(2) in a cause of action brought in a state or federal court except for judicial review of a proceeding in which there has been a grant or denial of employment-related benefits or compensation;

(3) to a determination regarding benefits or compensation under a life or disability insurance policy purchased by or on behalf of the chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician that provides coverage in addition to any benefits or compensation required by law; or

(4) if the disease or illness for which benefits or compensation is sought is known to be caused by the use of tobacco and:

(A) the chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician is or has been a user of tobacco; or

(B) the chaplain's, firefighter's, peace officer's, or emergency medical technician's spouse has, during the marriage, been a user of tobacco that is consumed through smoking.

(e) A chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician who uses a presumption established under this subchapter is entitled only to the benefits or compensation to which the chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician would otherwise be entitled to receive at the time the claim for benefits or compensation is filed.

(g) This subchapter applies to a chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician who provides services as an employee of an entity created by an interlocal agreement.

(h) Subsection (b)(4) only prevents the application of the presumption authorized by this subchapter and does not affect the right of a chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician to provide proof, without the use of that presumption, that an injury or illness occurred during the course and scope of employment.

SECTION 4. Sections 607.053(a), (c), and (d), Government Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a) A chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician is presumed to have suffered a disability or death during the course and scope of employment if the chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician:

(1) received preventative immunization against smallpox, or another disease to which the chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician may be exposed during the course and scope of employment and for which immunization is possible; and

(2) suffered death or total or partial disability as a result of the immunization.

(c) A presumption established under Subsection (a) may not be rebutted by evidence that the immunization was:

(1) not required by the employer;

(2) not required by law; or

(3) received voluntarily or with the consent of the chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician.

(d) A chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician who suffers from smallpox that results in death or total or partial disability is presumed to have contracted the disease during the course and scope of employment as a chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician.

SECTION 5. Section 607.054, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 607.054. TUBERCULOSIS OR OTHER RESPIRATORY ILLNESS. (a) A chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician who suffers from tuberculosis, or any other disease or illness of the lungs or respiratory tract that has a statistically positive correlation with service as a chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician, that results in death or total or partial disability is presumed to have contracted the disease or illness during the course and scope of employment as a chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician.

(b) This section does not apply to a claim that a chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician suffers from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

SECTION 6. Section 607.056(a), Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) A chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician who suffers an acute myocardial infarction or stroke resulting in disability or death is presumed to have suffered the disability or death during the course and scope of employment as a chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician if:

(1) while on duty, the chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician:

(A) was engaged in a situation that involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity involving fire suppression, rescue, hazardous material response, emergency medical services, or other emergency response activity; or

(B) participated in a training exercise that involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity; and

(2) the acute myocardial infarction or stroke occurred while the chaplain, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician was engaging in the activity described under Subdivision (1).

SECTION 7. Section 607.057, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 607.057. EFFECT OF PRESUMPTION. Except as provided by Section 607.052(b), a presumption established under this subchapter applies to a determination of whether a chaplain's, detention officer's, custodial officer's, firefighter's, peace officer's, or emergency medical technician's disability or death resulted from a disease or illness contracted in the course and scope of employment for purposes of benefits or compensation provided under another employee benefit, law, or plan, including a pension plan.

SECTION 8. Section 607.058, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 607.058. PRESUMPTION REBUTTABLE. (a) A presumption under Section 607.053, 607.054, [607.0545,] 607.055, or 607.056 or former Section 607.0545 may be rebutted through a showing by a preponderance of the evidence that a risk factor, accident, hazard, or other cause not associated with the individual's service as a chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician was a substantial factor in bringing about the individual's disease or illness, without which the disease or illness would not have occurred.

(b) A rebuttal offered under this section must include a statement by the person offering the rebuttal that describes, in detail, the evidence that the person reviewed before making the determination that a cause not associated with the individual's service as a chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician was a substantial factor in bringing about the individual's disease or illness, without which the disease or illness would not have occurred.

(c) In addressing an argument based on a rebuttal offered under this section, an administrative law judge shall make findings of fact and conclusions of law that consider whether a qualified expert, relying on evidence-based medicine, stated the opinion that, based on reasonable medical probability, an identified risk factor, accident, hazard, or other cause not associated with the individual's service as a chaplain, detention officer, custodial officer, firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician was a substantial factor in bringing about the individual's disease or illness, without which the disease or illness would not have occurred.

SECTION 9. Sections 504.019(b) and (c), Labor Code, are amended to read as follows:

(b) Post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by a first responder or an individual employed as a chaplain by a fire department or law enforcement organization of a political subdivision of this state is a compensable injury under this subtitle only if it is based on a diagnosis that:

(1) the disorder is caused by one or more events occurring in the course and scope of the first responder's or chaplain's employment; and

(2) the preponderance of the evidence indicates that the event or events were a producing cause of the disorder.

(c) For purposes of this subtitle, the date of injury for post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by a first responder or chaplain described by Subsection (b) is the date on which the first responder or chaplain first knew or should have known that the disorder may be related to the first responder's or chaplain's employment.

SECTION 10. Sections 177A.003(a), (c), and (d), Local Government Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a) A political subdivision shall provide to a firefighter, police officer, [or] emergency medical services personnel, or individual employed as a chaplain by a fire department or police department of a political subdivision a leave of absence for an illness or injury related to the person's line of duty. The leave is with full pay for a period commensurate with the nature of the line of duty illness or injury. If necessary, the political subdivision shall continue the leave for at least one year.

(c) If the firefighter, police officer, [or] emergency medical services personnel, or individual employed as a chaplain by a fire department or police department of a political subdivision is temporarily disabled by a line of duty injury or illness and the leave of absence and any extension granted by the governing body has expired, the person may use accumulated sick leave, vacation time, and other accrued benefits before the person is placed on temporary leave.

(d) If the leave of absence and any extension granted by the governing body has expired, a firefighter, police officer, [or] emergency medical services personnel, or individual employed as a chaplain by a fire department or police department of a political subdivision who requires additional leave described by this section shall be placed on temporary leave.

SECTION 11. The changes in law made by this Act to Chapter 607, Government Code, apply only to a claim for benefits or compensation brought on or after the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 12. Section 504.019, Labor Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to a claim for workers' compensation benefits based on a compensable injury that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act. A claim based on a compensable injury that occurs before that date is governed by the law as it existed on the date the compensable injury occurred, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 13. The changes in law made by this Act to Chapter 177A, Local Government Code, apply only to a collective bargaining, meet and confer, or other similar agreement entered into on or after the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 14. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2025.