The Utah House of Representatives on Feb. 26 approved a bill that would create a working group to study a first responder’s workers compensation mental stress claim.
The House voted 54-16 to pass H.B. 209, by Rep. Karen Kwan, D-Murray, which would create the Mental Health Protections for First Responders workgroup.
The workgroup must include one member of the Senate, one member of the House, three representatives of the workers comp insurance industry, one member representing the insurer designated to write coverage for the residual market, and one representative who is a voting member of the Workers Compensation Advisory Council and who represents private employers, according to the bill’s latest text.
The bill was placed on the Senate’s second reading calendar Thursday.
Legislative efforts to make it easier for first responders to receive workers compensation benefits for mental stress injuries, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, have cropped up in several states with varying degrees of success this year.