Texas infertility presumption among wave of first responder bills

Lawmakers in Texas are considering a bill that would make infertility suffered by certain first responders a compensable condition under workers compensation.

S.B. 1878 would apply to firefighters and emergency medical technicians who regularly responded on the scene to calls involving fires or firefighting or to events involving the documented release of radiation or a known or suspected carcinogen. It states that infertility would be described as the inability to get pregnant within a year. 

Texas lawmakers on Wednesday also introduced H.B. 4147, which would clear red tape for first responders diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. It is the second such bill this week.

Also introduced on Wednesday in Wisconsin was S.B. 113, which would amend state presumption law on post-traumatic stress disorder claims for police officers and firefighters to include emergency medical responders, emergency medical services practitioners, volunteer firefighters, correctional officers, emergency dispatchers, coroners and coroner staff members, and medical examiners and medical examiner staff members.

In Maine, lawmakers on Wednesday introduced S.B. 1123, which would create a rebuttable presumption that a cardiovascular injury or disease or pulmonary disease suffered by certain law enforcement officers is in the course of employment.