S. 237 — Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act of 2025

This section amends the Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program (34 U.S.C. 10281), which provides death and disability benefits to qualifying public safety officers and their survivors, by adding a new subsection (p) that (1) defines "exposure-related cancer" to include 21 specified cancers (i.e., bladder, brain, breast, cervical, colon, colorectal, esophageal, kidney, leukemia, lung, malignant melanoma, mesothelioma, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, ovarian, prostate, skin, stomach, testicular, and thyroid cancer) plus World Trade Center (WTC)-related health conditions, and "carcinogen" as an International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Group 1 or 2A agent reasonably linked to such cancer; (2) presumes a public safety officer's exposure to a carcinogen during line-of-duty activity to result in a line-of-duty personal injury causing death or permanent total disability if the officer began service at least 5 years before diagnosis, was diagnosed no more than 15 years after last active service, and the cancer caused the death or disability (rebuttable by competent medical evidence showing exposure was not a substantial factor); (3) directs the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Director to review and update the cancer list at least every 3 years via rulemaking, Federal Register notice, or BJA website based on competent medical evidence of significant risk from public safety duties, drawing from sources such as the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Toxicology Program, National Academies, or IARC; and (4) authorizes petitions by any person to add cancers, requiring BJA referral to medical experts within 180 days, prompt action on recommendations, and notification to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees within 30 days of substantive action. The amendments apply to PSOB death claims for officers dying on or after January 1, 2020, from exposure-related cancer and disability claims filed on or after that date from such cancer. Claimants have 3 years from enactment to file notwithstanding other time limits.

This section amends section 3 of the Safeguarding America’s First Responders Act of 2020 (34 U.S.C. 10281 note)—which clarifies line-of-duty determinations under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program (34 U.S.C. §10281 et seq.), providing a $250,000 death or disability benefit to eligible public safety officers and survivors—by (1) defining "line of duty action" to include any action taken at the direction of the officer's agency or that the officer is authorized or obligated to perform; and (2) applying the amendment to death claims for officers dying on or after January 1, 2020, and disability claims filed on or after that date, with a three-year filing window from enactment for claims predicated on the amendment notwithstanding other law.