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H2851 • 2025

An Act relative to disability or death cause by contagious disease; presumption

An Act relative to disability or death cause by contagious disease; presumption

Active

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

Sponsor
Carlos González
Last action
2025-09-08
Official status
Accompanied H2846
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 relative to disability or death cause by contagious disease; presumption

An Act relative to disability or death cause by contagious disease; presumption By Representative González of Springfield, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.

What This Bill Does

  • An Act relative to disability or death cause by contagious disease; presumption By Representative González of Springfield, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
  • 2851) of Carlos González and Jacob R.
  • Oliveira relative to the presumption for disability or death cause by contagious diseases.
  • Public Service.

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

  1. 2025-09-08 House

    Accompanied H2846

  2. 2025-05-22 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 05/28/2025 from 01:00 PM-04:00 PM in A-2

  3. 2025-02-27 House

    Referred to the committee on Public Service

  4. 2025-02-27 Senate

    Senate concurred

Official Summary Text

An Act relative to disability or death cause by contagious disease; presumption
By Representative González of Springfield, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2851) of Carlos González and Jacob R. Oliveira relative to the presumption for disability or death cause by contagious diseases. Public Service.

Current Bill Text

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Bill H.2851

SECTION 1. Chapter 32 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 94B the following new section:-

Section 94C. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, and for the purposes of any death, disability or medical services claim including claims under Chapter 32, Chapter 41 and Chapter 152 of the General Laws, any contagious disease, resulting in disability or death to a full-time uniformed member of a paid police department, fire department or municipal emergency medical service shall, if the person successfully passed a physical examination on entry into such service or subsequent to such entry, which examination failed to reveal any evidence of such condition, be presumed to have been suffered in the line of duty, unless it is shown by a preponderance of the evidence that non-service connected risk factors or non-service connected accidents or hazards undergone, or any combination thereof, caused such incapacity. The provisions of this section shall only apply if the disabling or fatal condition is a type of contagious disease which may, in general, result from exposure to blood and other body fluids of the sick, excluding the common cold.

(2) Any person first discovering any such condition within five years of the last date on which such person actively so served shall be eligible to apply for benefits hereunder, and such benefits, if granted, shall be payable as of the date on which the employee last received regular compensation. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person serving in such position unless such person shall first establish that they regularly responded to calls for police, fire or emergency medical service during some portion of the period of their service in such position.

(3) The provisions of this section shall also apply to any condition of COVID-19, Hepatitis A, B, or C, Tuberculosis, HIV, and any other contagious disease which is found by regulation by the commissioner of the department of public health to have a statistically significant correlation with police, fire or emergency medical service.

(4) Nothing herein shall preclude a member from applying for and receiving benefits under section seven or section nine, subject to the provisions of said sections.

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