H1230 • 2025

An Act mandating access to cancer screenings for firefighters through health care benefits plans or programs provided by the public employer

Labor

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor: John J. Lawn, Jr.
Last action: 2026-01-23
Official status: Accompanied a new draft, see H4946
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

An Act mandating access to cancer screenings for firefighters through health care benefits plans or programs provided by the public employer

An Act mandating access to cancer screenings for firefighters through health care benefits plans or programs provided by the public employer By Representative Lawn of Watertown, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.

What This Bill Does

An Act mandating access to cancer screenings for firefighters through health care benefits plans or programs provided by the public employer By Representative Lawn of Watertown, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
1230) of John J.
Lawn, Jr., and others for legislation to mandate cancer screenings for firefighters through health care benefits plans or programs provided by the public employer.
Financial Services.

Limits and Unknowns

This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

2026-01-23 House
Accompanied a new draft, see H4946
2025-09-09 Joint
Hearing scheduled for 09/17/2025 from 12:30 PM-04:30 PM in Gardner Auditorium
2025-02-27 House
Referred to the committee on Financial Services
2025-02-27 Senate
Senate concurred

Official Summary Text

An Act mandating access to cancer screenings for firefighters through health care benefits plans or programs provided by the public employer
By Representative Lawn of Watertown, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1230) of John J. Lawn, Jr., and others for legislation to mandate cancer screenings for firefighters through health care benefits plans or programs provided by the public employer. Financial Services.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

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Bill H.1230

A firefighter employed as a full-time paid employee of a fire department of the State or a City, Town, Fire or Water District, shall be provided a cancer screening examination conducted by a physician not less than three years after the start of the firefighter’s employment as a firefighter and every three years thereafter during the course of the firefighter’s employment.

This section shall also apply to members of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department, members of the 104th fighter wing fire department, and members of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993 and, for the purposes of this section, the Massachusetts Port Authority, the Massachusetts Military Reservation, the Barnes Air National Guard Base and the Devens Regional Enterprise Zone established pursuant to said chapter 498 shall be fire districts.

The examination shall include screening for, at a minimum and when applicable, the following cancers:

Colon; Lung; Bladder; Oral; Thyroid; Skin; Blood; Breast; Cervical; Testicular; and Prostate.

All costs associated with screenings provided under this section shall be borne by the firefighter’s health care benefits plan or program provided by the firefighter’s employer. No co-payment, deductible, coinsurance, or any out-of-pocket expense shall be required for such examinations.

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