SB 906 Summary

• Expands workers' compensation coverage to include COVID-19 injuries for emergency first responders (law enforcement, firefighters, correctional officers, physicians, respiratory therapists, nurses, and emergency medical services personnel) contracted during a governor-declared emergency.

• Establishes a presumption that COVID-19 illness in emergency first responders arose from employment, with the presumption applying retroactively to Executive Order No. 2020-4.

• Creates the "first responder presumed coverage fund" as a separate state treasury fund to pay workers' compensation benefits for firefighters with specified cancers (respiratory tract, bladder, skin, brain, kidney, blood, thyroid, testicular, prostate, or lymphatic) who have 60 months of active service.

• Requires the State Workers' Compensation Agency director to develop application procedures, review claims within 30 days, maintain annual reporting to appropriations committees, and notify the legislature if fund revenues become insufficient to cover approved claims.

• Makes various technical corrections to the statute, changing "shall" to "must" and "upon" to "on" for grammatical consistency.