Maryland's governor, Larry Hogan, has signed two bills into law expanding cancer coverage benefits for firefighters under Maryland' s workers' compensation law.
“Firefighters suffer from cancer at a much higher rate than the rest of the population, and I am proud to enact these bipartisan measures on behalf of these brave heroes,” Governor Hogan said in a statement.
One bill signed by the governor, House Bill 595, adds bladder and kidney, or renal cell cancers, to the types of cancers considered as occupational diseases for firefighters under the workers' compensation law.
The second bill, House Bill 604/Senate Bill 646, the “Firefighter Jesse McCullough's Cancer Protection Law,” honors Prince George's County firefighter Jesse McCullough, who passed away in October 2018 from metastatic colon cancer related to his occupation, and expands workers' compensation coverage regarding cumulative time served.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].