MI SB0094

Expands the definition of "personal injury" for fully paid firefighters, police officers, state police, conservation officers, county sheriffs, and airport/university fire department members to include respiratory and heart diseases that manifest during active service and result from job duties.

Establishes a rebuttable presumption that respiratory and heart diseases arise out of employment for covered workers, requiring affirmative evidence of non-work-related causation to overcome.

For firefighters and public fire authority members with 60+ months of service, includes respiratory tract, bladder, skin, brain, kidney, blood, and lymphatic cancers as presumed work-related injuries if exposed to fire suppression, rescue, or emergency medical service hazards.

Allows cancer presumption to be rebutted only through scientific evidence that the worker was a substantial and consistent tobacco user within 10 years before injury and that tobacco use was a significant factor in the cancer's cause or progression.

Requires claimants to first apply for available pension benefits before filing for workers' compensation benefits; if pension benefits are denied, the presumption of work-related injury applies to workers' compensation claims.