(Radio Iowa) – A bill that’s won approval in the Iowa Senate would make firefighters and police officers in Iowa’s municipal retirement system as well as state troopers eligible for accidental disability and death benefits if they’re diagnosed with any form of cancer. The proposal passed the House last year and again last month. Joe Van Haalen, president of the Des Moines firefighters’ union, says there’s a great deal of relief now that it’s passed the Senate on a 46-to-one vote.

“A lot of hard work went into it and a lot of pride. Proud of our folks for stepping up,” Van Haalen said. “There’s just been an incredible effort by so many people to get this over the finish line.” Current law limits benefits for thousands of Iowa firefighters and police officers to 14 types of cancer. Senators added a stipulation to the bill — a small increase in what most full-time first responders in Iowa should pay toward their benefits.

“It was a really good way for us to put some more skin in the game and show how important the bill is to us,” Van Haalen said. Firefighters are exposed to cancer-causing chemicals in burning buildings, plus the protective gear they wear contains PFAS — so-called “forever chemicals” that make it water repellent. “The coat and pants that we wear going into fires, a three layered system that’s got a vapor barrier and then an outer barrier and then an inner shell between the two — that stuff is the same stuff that they’re using PFAS in to try to protect us, which is also causing us problems.”

Des Moines Professional FireFighters president Joe Van Haalen spoke with reporters after the bill passed the Senate. (RI photo)

According to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network, firefighters have a nine percent higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer than the general population. More than a hundred firefighters from departments in Fort Dodge, Marshalltown, Mason City and Daveport as well as the Des Moines metro sat in the Senate gallery today (Wednesday) as senators debated the bill — and passed it. Several senators, including Charlie McClintock of Alburnett, spoke directly to them. “I’m so happy to see this bill come forward so we do our part to take care of you after you’ve taken of us for so long,” he said.

Senator Mike Webster of Bettendorf, the bill’s floor manager, says the bill protects the taxpayers as well as first responders. “They save our lives every day and today we get the opportunity to show them that that debt they take out of their lives and the concern and the danger they put themselves in front of, we’re going to take care of you on the backside of that,” Webster said.

The House is expected to approve the adjustment senators made in the bill and send the legislation to Governor Reynolds.