ID H0194

Adds firefighter occupational disease as a new category of compensable occupational disease in Idaho worker's compensation law, applying to employees whose primary occupation is extinguishing or investigating fires for fire districts, departments, or brigades.

Creates a rebuttable presumption that eleven specified cancers and diseases are proximately caused by firefighter employment if diagnosed after minimum employment periods ranging from 5 to 15 years and not revealed in initial or subsequent medical screenings per national fire protection association standards.

Lists covered diseases as brain cancer (10 years), bladder cancer (12 years), kidney cancer (15 years), colorectal cancer (10 years), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (15 years), leukemia (5 years), ureter cancer (12 years), testicular cancer (5 years if before age 40), breast cancer (5 years if before age 40 without genetic predisposition), esophageal cancer (10 years), and multiple myeloma (15 years).

Allows employer or insurer to rebut the presumption with medical evidence, after which the firefighter or beneficiaries must prove causation by preponderance of evidence before the Idaho Industrial Commission.

Permits firefighters to demonstrate causal connection outside the presumption framework and limits the presumption to diseases diagnosed within ten years of the firefighter's last date of employment.