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2026 Regular Session Introduced by Chris Pringle

HB 97 creates a presumption that specific cancers are work-related for firefighters, making their deaths presumed line-of-duty and boosting survivors’ death benefits.

Reported Out of Committee Second House

#publicsafety&emergencies

Main purpose

HB 97 expands the statutory list of cancers that are presumed to be occupationally related to firefighting for purposes of the Public Safety Employees' Death Benefits Act. When a firefighter’s death is the direct and proximate result of one of the listed cancers, the death is presumed to be “killed in the line of duty,” which makes the firefighter’s survivors eligible for death benefits under that Act.

Key provisions

Amends G.S. 143‑166.2(6)(e) to add specified cancers to the list of occupationally related cancers for firefighters.

The list (as enacted in the bill's final form) includes:

Mesothelioma
Testicular cancer
Cancer of the small intestine
Esophageal cancer
Oral cavity cancer
Pharynx cancer
Stomach (gastric) cancer
Prostate cancer
Colon cancer

Establishes a presumption that a firefighter who dies as a direct and proximate result of one of these cancers was killed in the line of duty.

Effective date: July 1, 2025. The bill applies to qualifying deaths occurring on or after that date.

Who is affected

Primary beneficiaries: career and volunteer firefighters (and their survivors/beneficiaries). Survivors may qualify for death benefits more readily when the statutory presumption applies.

Administrative agencies: Department of State Treasurer (administers death benefits payments) and other entities that process claims under the Public Safety Employees' Death Benefits Act.

Employers/local governments: potential changes in benefit payouts and administration; possible fiscal exposure if more claims qualify under the presumption.

Fiscal and procedural notes

Earlier draft/edition of the bill included an appropriation of $500,000 recurring for each year of the 2025–2027 biennium to the Department of State Treasurer to support benefits payable under implementation. That appropriation language does not appear in the final enacted text; however, extending the list of presumptive cancers may increase benefit payments and related administrative costs over time.

Legislative history: introduced Feb 12, 2025; went through committee substitutes and amendments; passed the General Assembly and was signed by the Governor (signed date recorded Sept. 2, 2025). The bill took effect on the stated effective date (July 1, 2025) and applies to qualifying deaths on or after that date.

Practical effect

By creating a statutory presumption that specified cancers are occupationally related to firefighting, HB 97 reduces the evidentiary burden on survivors seeking line‑of‑duty death benefits for firefighters who die from these cancers. This likely increases the number of claims approved under the Public Safety Employees' Death Benefits Act and may create additional, though currently indeterminate, fiscal obligations for the State and local governments.

Bill