Alaska House Bill 14 was enacted into law without governor signature, revising the state’s cancer presumption for firefighters.

The presumption still covers the same types of cancers – brain cancer, malignant melanoma, leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, bladder cancer, ureter cancer, kidney cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer – but it now doubles the post-separation coverage from five years to ten.

Firefighters now earn six-months of post-separation coverage for each year of duty, twice as much as before. Furthermore, firefighters need only undergo three medical exams – once every two years during the first six years of employment without signs of cancer – to qualify for benefits. Previously, firefighters were required to undergo annual exams for the first seven years of duty and demonstrate a lack of cancer to qualify for future presumptions. The passage of this law makes it easier for firefighters in the state to qualify for the cancer presumption, which could result in more of these claims entering the workers’ comp system.