Bill would expand police, fire disability benefits

Iowa House lawmakers are looking to update the disability compensation rules for police and firefighters to fix what they see as a flaw in state law. House Study Bill 745, which passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday, would extend disability coverage for Iowa's police and firefighters to include disabilities caused by long term physical stress and mental health conditions.

The bill changes the state's pension program for professional police and firefighters, which covers police departments in 49 of Iowa's larger cities and fire departments in 38 of those.

A past Iowa Supreme Court ruling found that state law currently only allows police and firefighters to receive disability benefits if their disability can be traced to a specific incident, said the committee's chair, Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton.

Disabilities that appear after decades on the job, caused by work duties like carrying heavy equipment, are not covered. The bill would specify that any disability that was caused by the employment is covered, regardless of if it is linked to a specific incident.

The bill would also add disability coverage for mental health conditions caused by traumatic incidents on the job, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Unlike the physical disabilities, the condition would need to be traceable to a specific traumatic incident or incidents to be covered. Firefighters and police supported the bill during a subcommittee on Thursday, saying the long a waited proposal was necessary to ensure that Iowa's police officers receive the same coverage as those in the private sector.

Brandon Phlanzer, the secretary-treasurer of Iowa Professional Firefighters, said that coverage for PTSD was a growing need for firefighters. "Some of the things we have to deal with on a regular basis and even some of the abnormalities of witnessing everyone's worst day as our regular day (can be traumatic)," he told lawmakers on Thursday. "So that part of recognizing the PTSD component is a huge benefit and a huge component of this bill."

The bill would raise costs for cities, which would need to offer more disability coverage through insurance. The Iowa League of Cities, which represents hundreds of cities in the state, is registered against the bill. The Metro Coalition, representing the state's 10 largest cities, is undecided.

Iowa League of Cities lobbyist Daniel Stalder said smaller cities with shrinking populations would have trouble keeping up with the cost increases in the bill.

The bill passed unanimously out of the committee on Thursday.

Rep. Eric Gjerde, D-Cedar Rapids, said expanding the coverage for those covered under the law has been needed for a long time. "It has been a long time coming, and it's really all about recruitment and retention, and ensuring that we honor the work that the public servants in our communities do," he said.

Bill comes as cancer benefits stall in Senate

The bill comes as House lawmakers continue to pursue legislation expanding the disability coverage for firefighters who develop cancer on the job. House File 2482, which the chamber passed in February, would have covered all cancers under a firefighter's disability benefits rather than the specific list that is currently covered.

The Senate did not take up the bill before a legislative funnel deadline last month.

Sen. Jason Schultz, the chair of the Senate State Government Committee, said he did not have enough time to research the cost impacts of the bill before the deadline. Schultz said he does not expect to take up the bill this year, but may look into it further in future years.

"To open the taxpayer to every cancer currently known and discovered in the future is an open blank check that takes more than five days to determine the cost," he said.

Kaufmann said he is still interested in getting the cancer coverage bill to move in the Senate, but he said the latest bill was broader and another way to get something done to improve public service benefits. He did not rule out amending the bill to include cancer benefits.

"It covers more things and it does more things than the cancer bill, which is very very important, but a more singular issue," Kaufmann said. "This is a more broad-based issue that covers more folks."

Tom Barton of the Lee-Gazette Des Moines Bureau contributed.