This amendment creates special rules to automatically count certain cancers as work-related injuries for specific peace officers and firefighters who meet strict service requirements.
Arizona2026Enacted
SB1215
SB1215: Firefighter and Peace Officer Cancer Presumptions
Last scannedAug 24, 2026, 7:40 AM
In one sentence
This law clarifies which cancers are automatically considered work-related for firefighters, fire investigators, and specific peace officers to help them receive workers' compensation.
What it does
- Clarifies that adenocarcinoma counts as a standalone condition for firefighter claims without needing to be in the respiratory tract.
- Removes breast cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, prostate cancer, and several other specific cancers from the list of presumed work-related diseases for peace officers.
- Keeps a long list of cancers, including those removed for police, as presumed work-related conditions for firefighters and fire investigators.
- Requires workers to pass a pre-employment physical exam with no evidence of cancer before they can use these presumptions.
- Sets the law's effective date back to July 1, 2021, so it applies to claims from that time forward.
Who it affects
- Full-time firefighters assigned to hazardous duty
- Fire investigators employed by municipalities or fire districts
- Peace officers in special operations, SWAT, explosive ordinance disposal, or hazardous materials units
Limits and unknowns
- The law does not apply if there is evidence that smoking or tobacco use outside of work caused respiratory cancers.
- Employers can challenge the presumption with clear proof that something other than workplace exposure caused the cancer.
- Former employees must be sixty-five years old or younger and diagnosed within fifteen years of leaving their job to qualify.
Plain language
Terms to know
- Presumption
- A legal rule that assumes a disease was caused by work unless proven otherwise.
- Workers' Compensation
- Money and medical benefits paid to employees who get sick or injured on the job.
- Adenocarcinoma
- A type of cancer that starts in glandular tissue, now treated as a specific condition for firefighters regardless of location.
Official record
Sources
Official summary
SB1215 - 572R - Senate Fact Sheet Assigned to FIN����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� AS PASSED BY HOUSE ARIZONA STATE SENATE Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session AMENDED FACT SHEET FOR S.B. 1215 firefighters; occupational disease; cancers Purpose Retroactive to July 1, 2021, clarifies the conditions presumed to have arisen out of employment as a peace officer, firefighter or fire investigator for the purposes of workers' compensation coverage. Background Injured employees, and dependents of deceased employees, are entitled to receive workers' compensation from accidents arising out of and in the course of employment ( A.R.S. � 23-1021 ). Accidents arising out of employment include occupational diseases that are due to conditions of a particular trade, occupation, process or employment and not the ordinary diseases to which the general public is exposed ( A.R.S. � 23-901 ). Under current statute, a firefighter's , fire investigator's or peace officer's disability or death is presumed to have resulted from a compensable occupational disease if caused by specified conditions. The conditions presumed to have arisen out of employment for firefighters , fire investigators and peace officers currently include any disease, infirmity or impairment to health caused by brain, bladder, rectal or colon cancer, lymphoma, leukemia or adenocarcinoma or mesothelioma of the respiratory tract. The conditions presumed to have arisen out of employment for firefighters and fire investigators also includes any disease, infirmity or impairment to health caused by buccal cavity, pharynx, esophagus, large intestine, lung, kidney, prostate, skin, stomach, ovarian, breast or testicular cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma or malignant melanoma (A.R.S. �� 23-901.01 and 23-901.09 ). In January 2025, the Industrial Commission of Arizona, responsible for implementing the workers' compensation system, produced a substantive policy statement, which clarifies that adenocarcinoma, in the scope of firefighter workers� compensation claims, is to be interpreted as a standalone condition and does not need to be of the respiratory tract to qualify under the workers� compensation statutes ( ICA Policy Statement ). There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation. Provisions 1. Clarifies the conditions presumed to have arisen out of employment for peace officers, firefighters and fire investigators. 2. Makes technical and conforming changes. 3. Becomes effective on the general effective date, retroactive to July 1, 2021. Amendments Adopted by Committee � Removes, from the conditions presumed to have arisen out of employment, any disease, infirmity or impairment of a peace officer's health caused by: a)�� breast cancer; b)�� buccal cavity cancer; c)�� esophageal cancer; d)�� kidney cancer; e)�� large intestine cancer; f)�� lung cancer; g)�� malignant melanoma; h)�� multiple myeloma; i)��� non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; j)��� ovarian cancer; k)�� pharynx cancer; l)��� prostate cancer; m)� skin cancer; n)�� stomach cancer; or o)�� testicular cancer. Amendments Adopted by the House of Representatives � Applies the workers' compensation coverage clarification retroactively to July 1, 2021. Senate Action ��������������������������������������������������������� House Action FIN���������������� 2/2/26������� DP������ 6-1-0������������������ PSLE�������������� 3/23/26����� DPA������ 11-0-1-2������������������������ 3 rd Read��������� 3/2/26������������������� 27-2-1���������������� 3 rd Read��������� 4/27/26����� �������������� 53-4-2-0-1 Prepared by Senate Research April 27, 2026 MG/SJ/hk
Official activity
Bill history
- Governor signedSenate
- Senate passedSenate
- Senate passedSenate
- Senate minority caucusSenate
- Transmitted to SenateSenate
- House third read passedHouse
- House committee of the wholeHouse
- House minority caucusHouse
- House majority caucusHouse
- House second readHouse
- House Rules: C&PHouse
- House Public Safety & Law Enforcement: DPAHouse
- House first readHouse
- Transmitted to HouseHouse
- Senate third read passedSenate
- Senate committee of the wholeSenate
- Senate minority caucusSenate
- Senate majority caucusSenate
- Senate second readSenate
- Senate Rules: PFCSenate
Changes
Amendments
4 stored
This amendment creates a legal rule that certain cancers are automatically considered work-related for specific peace officers and firefighters who meet strict service requirements.
This amendment changes which cancers are automatically considered work-related for firefighters, while also adding a new list of covered cancers specifically for special operations peace officers.
This amendment changes which cancers are automatically considered work-related for firefighters, while also adding a new list of covered cancers specifically for special operations peace officers.