Leaders Nearing Compromise on Firefighter Presumption Legislation

Thursday, January 26, 2017 | 0

Gov. Nathan Deal, lawmakers and local government officials are nearing an agreement on how to pay for treatment of firefighters who contract work-related cancers.

Gov. Nathan Deal

The officials are working on a bill that would make firefighters eligible for private insurance policies rather than filing state workers’ compensation claims, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

Legislators last year overwhelmingly approved a bill that would have allowed firefighters who contract cancer to file workers’ compensation claims if they could provide a “preponderance” of evidence that their work caused the disease.

Deal vetoed House Bill 216, however, saying it created an exception for one occupation and was a “broad solution for a problem not yet abundantly demonstrated in Georgia,” the newspaper reported.