H.R. 1269: Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act of 2025

H.R. 1269 changes how federal Public Safety Officers' Benefits claims work when an officer dies or becomes permanently and totally disabled after a cancer diagnosis. Instead of requiring the family or officer to prove the cancer came from the job, the bill presumes it did if three things line up: the exposure happened during line-of-duty work, the officer served at least 5 years before diagnosis, and the diagnosis came within 15 years of their last day of active service.

The bill names 20 cancers outright, including lung, breast, prostate, ovarian, and thyroid cancer, plus leukemia, mesothelioma, melanoma, and multiple myeloma. It also folds in cancers already recognized as 9/11-related health conditions, and it leaves room to add more cancers later.

The presumption is not automatic approval. The government can still deny a claim if competent medical evidence shows the exposure was not a substantial contributing factor to the death or disability.

The change reaches backward, too. It applies to deaths on or after January 1, 2020, and to disability claims filed on or after that date, and it gives claimants a 3-year window after enactment to file under the new rules.

Beyond the claims themselves, the bill tells the Justice Department to review the covered-cancer list at least every 3 years and sets up a petition process so unions, families, and researchers can push to add cancers as the science develops.