# Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act of 2025

This bill expands benefits for police officers, firefighters, and other public safety workers who develop cancer from job-related exposures. Specifically, it creates a legal presumption that if a public safety officer gets certain types of cancer and meets specific conditions, the cancer is considered a work-related injury eligible for federal benefits—even without having to prove the exact exposure caused it.

Here's what that means in practice: Currently, when a police officer or firefighter develops cancer, their family often has to prove the cancer came directly from something they were exposed to on the job, which can be extremely difficult. This bill flips that burden around for a defined list of cancers. If an officer worked for at least five years, was diagnosed with one of the covered cancers within 15 years of leaving the job, and the cancer resulted in death or permanent disability, the government will assume it was work-related unless medical evidence clearly shows otherwise. The covered cancers include common types like lung cancer, bladder cancer, and mesothelioma, plus 18 other specific cancers. The bill also includes a catch-all provision for any cancer recognized as related to 9/11 exposure, acknowledging that first responders at Ground Zero faced unique hazards.

The bill makes this protection retroactive to January 1, 2020, and gives people three years from when the law passes to file claims they might have missed. It also requires the government to review the list of covered cancers every three years and add new ones if medical evidence supports it. Additionally, the bill strengthens privacy protections for information submitted in these benefit claims, ensuring personal details stay confidential. The practical effect is that families of officers who died from cancer—or disabled officers themselves—will have an easier path to receiving federal death or disability benefits they may have been denied before.