West Virginia considers expanding firefighter cancer list

Three more types of cancer would be added to West Virginia’s 3-year-old disease presumption law for firefighters under a bill introduced in the state Senate on Wednesday.

S.B. 107 would add bladder cancer, mesothelioma and testicular cancer to the presumption law’s list of cancers, which was established when the original rebuttable presumption law was enacted in 2018.

The law states that leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma are compensable. All are set to expire as acceptable cancers on July 1, 2023, unless extended by the legislature. 

The new bill states that the acceptance of the additional types of cancer proposed would expire July 1, 2025, unless extended by the legislature.

The bill was sent to the Banking and Insurance Committee.