Provides for the payment of extraordinary medical and dental expenses of firemen and law enforcement officers (EG INCREASE GF EX See Note)
Summary
HB 203 creates a new statutory program to pay certain extraordinary medical and dental expenses for firemen and full-time law enforcement officers who are injured as a direct and proximate result of an injury arising out of and in the course of their official duties. The bill defines covered officers to include full-time sheriffs and deputy sheriffs, state police, municipal police, and university and college police officers, and it defines covered expenses as medical or dental costs not already covered by workers’ compensation or the employer’s health plan.
The bill assigns the Law Enforcement Officers and Firemen’s Survivor Benefit Review Board the role of reviewing and deciding claims for these expenses, with a unanimous vote required and a 60-day decision window after documentation is received. If approved, the state risk director must pay the expenses from the Self-Insurance Fund on behalf of the board, subject to a maximum benefit of $50,000 per injury per officer. The bill also authorizes the board to adopt rules and regulations and applies only to qualifying expenses incurred for injuries on or after January 1, 2023, with an effective date of July 1, 2025.
Impact
HB 203 amends the Louisiana Revised Statutes by adding R.S. 40:1668.1 and R.S. 39:1533(A)(3), and by revising the heading of Chapter 7-C of Title 40 to expressly include extraordinary medical and dental expenses. It expands the duties of the Law Enforcement Officers and Firemen’s Survivor Benefit Review Board, shifts payment responsibility to the state risk director through the Self-Insurance Fund, and creates a new state-funded benefit for eligible first responders. The bill also establishes exclusions for intentional misconduct, voluntary intoxication, and gross negligence, and it limits retroactive application to injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2023.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have broad support, as reflected by its unanimous House final passage vote of 91-0. The available record does not show committee debate or recorded opposition, suggesting the measure was generally viewed favorably as a benefit for injured firemen and law enforcement officers. The only visible policy adjustment in the legislative process was a reduction in the maximum benefit from the original proposal to the engrossed version.
Contention
The main point of contention evident from the bill history is fiscal exposure. The bill is tagged as increasing general fund expenditures, and the House Appropriations Committee amended it to reduce the maximum benefit per injury per officer from $150,000 to $50,000, likely to limit cost. A second issue was scope and retroactivity: the committee also narrowed applicability to injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2023. No other substantive opposition is reflected in the provided materials, and no committee transcript indicates disagreement over eligibility rules or the board’s role.