Florida Senate - 2019                       CS for CS for SB 426
       
       
        
       By the Committees on Appropriations; and Community Affairs; and
       Senators Flores, Torres, Hooper, Perry, Gruters, Broxson,
       Stewart, Taddeo, Berman, Powell, Mayfield, Rouson, Montford,
       Bracy, Farmer, Book, Gibson, and Bean
       
       
       576-04171A-19                                          2019426c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to firefighters; creating s. 112.1816,
    3         F.S.; providing definitions; granting certain benefits
    4         to a firefighter upon receiving a diagnosis of cancer
    5         if certain conditions are met; requiring an employer
    6         to make certain disability payments to a firefighter
    7         in the event of a total and permanent disability;
    8         providing for death benefits to a firefighter’s
    9         beneficiary if a firefighter dies as a result of
   10         cancer or cancer treatments; specifying that any costs
   11         associated with benefits granted by the act must be
   12         borne by the employer; requiring the Division of State
   13         Fire Marshal to adopt certain rules; amending s.
   14         121.735, F.S.; adjusting the allocation of funds to
   15         provide line-of-duty death benefits for members in the
   16         investment plan of the Florida Retirement System;
   17         directing the Division of Law Revision to adjust the
   18         employer contribution rates for the Special Risk Class
   19         and DROP in the Florida Retirement System; providing a
   20         declaration of important state interest; providing an
   21         effective date.
   22          
   23  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   24  
   25         Section 1. Section 112.1816, Florida Statutes, is created
   26  to read:
   27         112.1816 Firefighters; cancer diagnosis.—
   28         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   29         (a) “Cancer” includes:
   30         1. Bladder cancer.
   31         2. Brain cancer.
   32         3. Breast cancer.
   33         4. Cervical cancer.
   34         5. Colon cancer.
   35         6. Esophageal cancer.
   36         7. Invasive skin cancer.
   37         8. Kidney cancer.
   38         9. Large intestinal cancer.
   39         10. Lung cancer.
   40         11. Malignant melanoma.
   41         12. Mesothelioma.
   42         13. Multiple myeloma.
   43         14. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
   44         15. Oral cavity and pharynx cancer.
   45         16. Ovarian cancer.
   46         17. Prostate cancer.
   47         18. Rectal cancer.
   48         19. Stomach cancer.
   49         20. Testicular cancer.
   50         21. Thyroid cancer.
   51         (b) “Employer” has the same meaning as in s. 112.191.
   52         (c) “Firefighter” means an individual employed as a full
   53  time firefighter within the fire department or public safety
   54  department of an employer whose primary responsibilities are the
   55  prevention and extinguishing of fires; the protection of life
   56  and property; and the enforcement of municipal, county, and
   57  state fire prevention codes and laws pertaining to the
   58  prevention and control of fires.
   59         (2) Upon a diagnosis of cancer, a firefighter is entitled
   60  to the following benefits, as an alternative to pursuing
   61  workers’ compensation benefits under chapter 440, if the
   62  firefighter has been employed by his or her employer for at
   63  least 5 continuous years, has not used tobacco products for at
   64  least the preceding 5 years, and has not been employed in any
   65  other position in the preceding 5 years which is proven to
   66  create a higher risk for any cancer:
   67         (a) Cancer treatment covered within an employer-sponsored
   68  health plan or through a group health insurance trust fund. The
   69  employer must timely reimburse the firefighter for any out-of
   70  pocket deductible, copayment, or coinsurance costs incurred due
   71  to the treatment of cancer.
   72         (b) A one-time cash payout of $25,000, upon the
   73  firefighter’s initial diagnosis of cancer.
   74  
   75  If the firefighter elects to continue coverage in the employer
   76  sponsored health plan or group health insurance trust fund after
   77  he or she terminates employment, the benefits specified in
   78  paragraphs (a) and (b) must be made available by the former
   79  employer of a firefighter for 10 years following the date on
   80  which the firefighter terminates employment so long as the
   81  firefighter otherwise met the criteria specified in this
   82  subsection when he or she terminated employment and was not
   83  subsequently employed as a firefighter following that date. For
   84  purposes of determining leave time and employee retention
   85  policies, the employer must consider a firefighter’s cancer
   86  diagnosis as an injury or illness incurred in the line of duty.
   87         (3)(a) If the firefighter participates in an employer
   88  sponsored retirement plan, the retirement plan must consider the
   89  firefighter totally and permanently disabled in the line of duty
   90  if he or she meets the retirement plan’s definition of totally
   91  and permanently disabled due to the diagnosis of cancer or
   92  circumstances that arise out of the treatment of cancer.
   93         (b) If the firefighter does not participate in an employer
   94  sponsored retirement plan, the employer must provide a
   95  disability retirement plan that provides the firefighter with at
   96  least 42 percent of his or her annual salary, at no cost to the
   97  firefighter, until the firefighter’s death, as coverage for
   98  total and permanent disabilities attributable to the diagnosis
   99  of cancer which arise out of the treatment of cancer.
  100         (4)(a) If the firefighter participated in an employer
  101  sponsored retirement plan, the retirement plan must consider the
  102  firefighter to have died in the line of duty if he or she dies
  103  as a result of cancer or circumstances that arise out of the
  104  treatment of cancer.
  105         (b) If the firefighter did not participate in an employer
  106  sponsored retirement plan, the employer must provide a death
  107  benefit to the firefighter’s beneficiary, at no cost to the
  108  firefighter or his or her beneficiary, totaling at least 42
  109  percent of the firefighter’s most recent annual salary for at
  110  least 10 years following the firefighter’s death as a result of
  111  cancer or circumstances that arise out of the treatment of
  112  cancer.
  113         (c) Firefighters who die as a result of cancer or
  114  circumstances that arise out of the treatment of cancer are
  115  considered to have died in the manner as described in s.
  116  112.191(2)(a), and all of the benefits arising out of such death
  117  are available to the deceased firefighter’s beneficiary.
  118         (5) The costs of providing the reimbursement, lump sum, and
  119  retirement benefits made available under this section must be
  120  borne solely by the employer that employs firefighters.
  121         (6) The Division of State Fire Marshal within the
  122  Department of Financial Services shall adopt rules to establish
  123  employer cancer prevention best practices as it relates to
  124  personal protective equipment, decontamination, fire suppression
  125  apparatus, and fire stations.
  126         Section 2. Subsection (3) of section 121.735, Florida
  127  Statutes, is amended to read:
  128         121.735 Allocations for member line-of-duty death benefits;
  129  percentage amounts.—
  130         (3) Effective July 1, 2017, Allocations from the Florida
  131  Retirement System Contributions Clearing Trust Fund to provide
  132  line-of-duty death benefits for members in the investment plan
  133  and to offset the costs of administering said coverage, are as
  134  follows:
  135  
  136  
  137  Membership Class                  Percentage of Gross Compensation 
  138  Regular Class                                  0.05%               
  139  Special Risk Class                          1.21% 1.15%            
  140  Special Risk Administrative Support Class              0.03%               
  141  Elected Officers’ Class— Legislators, Governor, Lt. Governor, Cabinet Officers, State Attorneys, Public Defenders              0.15%               
  142  Elected Officers’ Class— Justices, Judges              0.09%               
  143  Elected Officers’ Class— County Elected Officers              0.20%               
  144  Senior Management Service Class                0.05%               
  145         Section 3. (1) In order to fund the benefit changes
  146  provided by this act to the Florida Retirement System, the
  147  required employer contribution rates for the members of the
  148  Florida Retirement System are increased as follows:
  149         (a) By 0.08 percentage point for the rate established in s.
  150  121.71(4), Florida Statutes, for the Special Risk Class.
  151         (b) By 0.01 percentage point for the rate established in s.
  152  121.71(5), Florida Statutes, for the Special Risk Class.
  153         (c) By 0.02 percentage point for the rate established in s.
  154  121.71(5), Florida Statutes, for DROP.
  155         (2) The adjustments provided in subsection (1) are in
  156  addition to any other changes to such contribution rates which
  157  may be enacted into law to take effect on July 1, 2019. The
  158  Division of Law Revision is directed to adjust accordingly the
  159  contribution rates provided in s. 121.71, Florida Statutes.
  160         Section 4. The Legislature determines and declares that
  161  this act fulfills an important state interest.
  162         Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.