Presumption Bill Passes the House

CSHB 1388, by Rep. Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston) has been scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on State Affairs on May 7, 2015. The bill passed the House in a non-record vote on April 27, 2015.

The bill only applies to firefighters and emergency medical technicians. As amended in its House committee the bill requires a person seeking to rebut the presumption of compensability offer a statement that describes in detail the evidence that the person reviewed before making the determination that a non-work-related factor caused the heart attack or stroke.

As amended, the bill also requires a carrier to include language on its PLN-1 that explains why it determined that the presumption does not apply and to describe the evidence that it reviewed in making that determination.

As originally proposed in the House, the bill also would have weakened the presumption of compensability for heart attacks and strokes for firefighters and emergency medical technicians by eliminating the requirement that a heart attack or stroke be caused by a non-routine stressful or physical activity. That language was stripped in the House.