S.B. No. 1582

	AN ACT
	relating to benefits for peace officers relating to certain
	diseases or illnesses.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 607.004(a), Government Code, is amended
	to read as follows:
	(a)  A certified fire fighter, peace officer, or other
	governmental employee who operates an ambulance or who responds to
	emergency medical calls is entitled to preventative immunization
	for any disease to which the fire fighter, peace officer, or other
	governmental employee may be exposed in performing official duties
	and for which immunization is possible.
	SECTION 2.  The heading to Subchapter B, Chapter 607,
	Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
	SUBCHAPTER B. DISEASES OR ILLNESSES SUFFERED BY FIREFIGHTERS,
	PEACE OFFICERS, AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS
	SECTION 3.  Section 607.051, Government Code, is amended by
	adding Subdivision (4) to read as follows:
	(4)  "Peace officer" means an individual elected,
	appointed, or employed to serve as a peace officer for a
	governmental entity under Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure,
	or other law.
	SECTION 4.  Sections 607.052(a), (b), (e), (g), and (h),
	Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(a)  Notwithstanding any other law, this subchapter applies
	only to a firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
	technician who:
	(1)  on becoming employed or during employment as a
	firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician,
	received a physical examination that failed to reveal evidence of
	the illness or disease for which benefits or compensation are
	sought using a presumption established by this subchapter;
	(2)  is employed for five or more years as a
	firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician; and
	(3)  seeks benefits or compensation for a disease or
	illness covered by this subchapter that is discovered during
	employment as a firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
	technician.
	(b)  A presumption under this subchapter does not apply:
	(1)  to a determination of a survivor's eligibility for
	benefits under Chapter 615;
	(2)  in a cause of action brought in a state or federal
	court except for judicial review of a proceeding in which there has
	been a grant or denial of employment-related benefits or
	compensation;
	(3)  to a determination regarding benefits or
	compensation under a life or disability insurance policy purchased
	by or on behalf of the firefighter, peace officer, or emergency
	medical technician that provides coverage in addition to any
	benefits or compensation required by law; or
	(4)  if the disease or illness for which benefits or
	compensation is sought is known to be caused by the use of tobacco
	and:
	(A)  the firefighter, peace officer, or emergency
	medical technician is or has been a user of tobacco; or
	(B)  the firefighter's, peace officer's, or
	emergency medical technician's spouse has, during the marriage,
	been a user of tobacco that is consumed through smoking.
	(e)  A firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
	technician who uses a presumption established under this subchapter
	is entitled only to the benefits or compensation to which the
	firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician would
	otherwise be entitled to receive at the time the claim for benefits
	or compensation is filed.
	(g)  This subchapter applies to a firefighter, peace
	officer, or emergency medical technician who provides services as
	an employee of an entity created by an interlocal agreement.
	(h)  Subsection (b)(4) only prevents the application of the
	presumption authorized by this subchapter and does not affect the
	right of a firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
	technician to provide proof, without the use of that presumption,
	that an injury or illness occurred during the course and scope of
	employment.
	SECTION 5.  Sections 607.053(a), (c), and (d), Government
	Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(a)  A firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
	technician is presumed to have suffered a disability or death
	during the course and scope of employment if the firefighter, peace
	officer, or emergency medical technician:
	(1)  received preventative immunization against
	smallpox, or another disease to which the firefighter, peace
	officer, or emergency medical technician may be exposed during the
	course and scope of employment and for which immunization is
	possible; and
	(2)  suffered death or total or partial disability as a
	result of the immunization.
	(c)  A presumption established under Subsection (a) may not
	be rebutted by evidence that the immunization was:
	(1)  not required by the employer;
	(2)  not required by law; or
	(3)  received voluntarily or with the consent of the
	firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician.
	(d)  A firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
	technician who suffers from smallpox that results in death or total
	or partial disability is presumed to have contracted the disease
	during the course and scope of employment as a firefighter, peace
	officer, or emergency medical technician.
	SECTION 6.  Section 607.054, Government Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	Sec. 607.054.  TUBERCULOSIS OR OTHER RESPIRATORY ILLNESS. A
	firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician who
	suffers from tuberculosis, or any other disease or illness of the
	lungs or respiratory tract that has a statistically positive
	correlation with service as a firefighter, peace officer, or
	emergency medical technician, that results in death or total or
	partial disability is presumed to have contracted the disease or
	illness during the course and scope of employment as a firefighter,
	peace officer, or emergency medical technician.
	SECTION 7.  Section 607.056(a), Government Code, is amended
	to read as follows:
	(a)  A firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
	technician who suffers an acute myocardial infarction or stroke
	resulting in disability or death is presumed to have suffered the
	disability or death during the course and scope of employment as a
	firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical technician if:
	(1)  while on duty, the firefighter, peace officer, or
	emergency medical technician:
	(A)  was engaged in a situation that involved
	nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity involving fire
	suppression, rescue, hazardous material response, emergency
	medical services, or other emergency response activity; or
	(B)  participated in a training exercise that
	involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity; and
	(2)  the acute myocardial infarction or stroke occurred
	while the firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
	technician was engaging in the activity described under Subdivision
	(1).
	SECTION 8.  Sections 607.057 and 607.058, Government Code,
	are amended to read as follows:
	Sec. 607.057.  EFFECT OF PRESUMPTION. Except as provided by
	Section 607.052(b), a presumption established under this
	subchapter applies to a determination of whether a firefighter's,
	peace officer's, or emergency medical technician's disability or
	death resulted from a disease or illness contracted in the course
	and scope of employment for purposes of benefits or compensation
	provided under another employee benefit, law, or plan, including a
	pension plan.
	Sec. 607.058.  PRESUMPTION REBUTTABLE. (a)  A presumption
	under Section 607.053, 607.054, 607.055, or 607.056 may be rebutted
	through a showing by a preponderance of the evidence that a risk
	factor, accident, hazard, or other cause not associated with the
	individual's service as a firefighter, peace officer, or emergency
	medical technician caused the individual's disease or illness.
	(b)  A rebuttal offered under this section must include a
	statement by the person offering the rebuttal that describes, in
	detail, the evidence that the person reviewed before making the
	determination that a cause not associated with the individual's
	service as a firefighter, peace officer, or emergency medical
	technician caused the individual's disease or illness.
	SECTION 9.  Section 409.022(d), Labor Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	(d)  In this subsection, the terms "emergency medical
	technician," "firefighter," and "peace officer" [technician" and
	"firefighter"] have the meanings assigned by Section 607.051,
	Government Code.  In addition to the other requirements of this
	section, if an insurance carrier's notice of refusal to pay
	benefits under Section 409.021 is sent in response to a claim for
	compensation resulting from an emergency medical technician's,
	[or] a firefighter's, or a peace officer's disability or death for
	which a presumption is claimed to be applicable under Subchapter B,
	Chapter 607, Government Code, the notice must include a statement
	by the carrier that:
	(1)  explains why the carrier determined a presumption
	under that subchapter does not apply to the claim for compensation;
	and
	(2)  describes the evidence that the carrier reviewed
	in making the determination described by Subdivision (1).
	SECTION 10.  The changes in law made by this Act apply to a
	claim for benefits or compensation brought on or after the
	effective date of this Act. A claim for benefits or compensation
	brought before that date is covered by the law in effect on the date
	the claim was made, and that law is continued in effect for that
	purpose.
	SECTION 11.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1582 passed the Senate on
	April 11, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
	the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 21, 2019, by the
	following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1582 passed the House, with
	amendment, on May 14, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 138,
	Nays 0, two present not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	Approved:
	______________________________
	Date
	______________________________
	Governor