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CIVIC HERALD
S 237 · 119th Congress · SenateOther

Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act of 2025

In plain language: This bill allows public safety officers and their surviving families to receive federal line-of-duty disability and death benefits if the officer develops certain cancers linked to job-related toxic exposures. To qualify under this automatic link, an officer must have served for at least five years and received a cancer diagnosis within 15 years of active duty. The rule applies to claims dating back to January 1, 2020, and gives eligible claimants a three-year window from the bill's enactment to apply.

Provisional: our plain-language summary, pending review.

Provisionalunreviewed: impact, issue tags, provisions, stakeholders, summary
People affectednot determinable from the text provided
Fiscal magnitudeCBO cost estimate published (S. 237, Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act of 2025, 2025-07-22); dollar figure pending review extraction — see receipt
Reach54provisional · pending reviewrigor: heuristic llm
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Issues

What this bill touches.

Substance use & mental health+35Policing & funding−38Personal data & privacy+30Workplace standards+48

The sign shows the bill's direction on each issue (+ toward, − away); the number is its magnitude. Color never encodes good or bad, and never party.

Who it affects

Who it helps · who it burdens.

Who it helps

  • Public safety officers and their surviving family membersCreates a presumption that covered exposure-related cancers, job-related mental health conditions, and authorized COVID-19-related activities resulting in death or permanent and total disability qualify as line-of-duty events for federal Public Safety Officers' Benefits, retroactive to January 1, 2020.provisional
  • Individuals and entities submitting records to the Office of Justice ProgramsReceives expanded privacy and confidentiality protections for information and records submitted to or maintained by any component of the Office of Justice Programs, retroactive to December 27, 1979, and applying to all pending matters.provisional
  • Members of the publicGains the formal right to petition the Bureau of Justice Assistance to add new forms of cancer to the covered exposure-related cancer list based on competent medical evidence.provisional

Who it burdens

  • Bureau of Justice AssistanceMust review the list of covered exposure-related cancers at least once every 3 years, refer public petitions for additional cancers to medical experts within 180 days, and notify congressional committees of substantive updates.provisional

Dollar-level funding (FEC sector totals) is coming in a later phase.

What it does

The provisions, in plain language.

  1. Presumes that a public safety officer's death or permanent and total disability caused by certain exposure-related cancers occurred in the line of duty for federal benefit claims, provided the officer served at least 5 years and was diagnosed within 15 years of active service, applying retroactively to January 1, 2020, with a 3-year window to file.

    Sec. 2(a)provisional
  2. Extends Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program line-of-duty rules for job-related mental health injuries and post-traumatic stress to cover permanent and total disability claims, not just death claims.

    Sec. 2(c)provisional
  3. Expands the definition of a line-of-duty action under the Safeguarding America’s First Responders Act to include any agency-directed, authorized, or mandatory activity, retroactive to COVID-19-related death and disability claims occurring or filed on or after January 1, 2020.

    Sec. 3provisional

How your members of Congress line up

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Timeline

How it moved.

  1. May 20, 2025Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 78.
  2. May 20, 2025Committee on the Judiciary. Reported by Senator Grassley without amendment. Without written report.
  3. May 20, 2025Committee on the Judiciary. Reported by Senator Grassley without amendment. Without written report.
  4. May 15, 2025Committee on the Judiciary. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
  5. Jan 23, 2025Introduced in Senate

The original text

Read it for yourself.

Sources & provenance

Congress.govrefreshed 17 days ago

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