Standing in a crowd of firefighters and police officers, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law that will expand disability benefits for Iowa firefighters and other first responders to cover all forms of cancer.
Reynolds, a Republican, signed House File 969 on Friday, June 6, at The Shop DSM Event Center in Des Moines, which is owned and operated by the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 4 chapter.
As she spoke, framed photographs of Brian Stoaks, Phillip Mike Broderick and Malcolm Cortner — three Des Moines firefighters who died of cancer — stood on the table next to the podium.
Reynolds said firefighters and other first responders “answer the call” when responding to fires, hazardous material spills and emergency rescues, and “they do it without hesitation.”
“We know the risks that they face don’t end when the emergency is resolved,” Reynolds said. “Their selflessness is inspiring and it deserves our greatest and deepest gratitude. And this means thanking first responders for their service, but it also means ensuring that they receive the care that they deserve and the care that they’ve earned through years of selfless sacrifice to others.”
The new law broadens disability benefits in Iowa for firefighters, police officers, sheriff deputies and emergency medical services responders to cover all forms of cancer. It takes effect immediately.
Until now, Iowa law only covered 14 types of cancer. Firefighters and their families have been advocating for years to change the law to expand disability benefits.
The law redefines cancer as “a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body.”
“This bill has significant impact to our membership, not just now but in the future,” Ryan Hanghian, president of the Iowa Professional Fire Fighters Association, said at the bill signing. “And it’s not just our membership but it’s their families as well, too.”
Joe Van Haalen, president of the Des Moines Professional Firefighters chapter of the IAFF, thanked Kelli Stoaks, Emily Broderick and Sheena Cortner, the wives of the three fallen firefighters, for advocating for the law change at the Iowa Capitol.
“I want to thank Kelli, Sheena and Emily for the work that they did and for understanding how tough that this was going to be and standing by our sides and coming up all those times to help us get through this,” he said. “Because they really helped us take it over the finish line.”
Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, who led the law’s passage in the Iowa Senate, said “today is why we do this.”
“This is what’s making Iowa better for the people and the men and the women who run into danger, rather than us who tend to run away from it,” he said. “This shows that we respect them and we’re going to stand on that red line with them — or that blue line.”
To pay for the expanded benefits, the law slightly increases the contribution rate that the employees pay into their retirement system.
Senators voted 46-1 to pass the measure, and the Iowa House passed it unanimously to send it to Reynolds for her signature.
Reynolds praised the “tremendous bipartisan support” for the legislation.
“It just makes it, I think, even stronger to be able to sign a good bill that receives good bipartisan support that this bill has received,” she said. “And it’s a promise that Iowa stands behind those who serve, just not when the sirens sound but in the days, months and years that follow.”
