An Act to amend and reenact § 65.2-107 of the Code of Virginia, relating to workers' compensation.
HB1313 amends Virginia’s workers’ compensation law to expand and clarify when post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorder, or depressive disorder suffered by law-enforcement officers and firefighters is compensable. The bill updates definitions for covered occupations, mental health professionals, and qualifying events, and it specifies that a diagnosis by a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist is required for a claim to be recognized under the statute.
The measure broadens the list of qualifying incidents and adds a new category for PTSD claims based on incidents or exposures occurring in the line of duty on or after January 1, 2027, even when there is no accompanying physical injury. It also retains and refines existing qualifying-event categories such as serious bodily injury or death, incidents involving minors, immediate threats to life, mass-casualty events, and responding to crime scenes for investigation. For firefighters, compensability remains tied to compliance with specified federal occupational safety standards.
The bill revises § 65.2-107 of the Code of Virginia, which governs workers’ compensation coverage for certain mental health conditions incurred by law-enforcement officers and firefighters. It expands the circumstances under which PTSD, anxiety disorder, and depressive disorder may be treated as compensable occupational injuries, and it adds a future effective-date trigger for PTSD claims without physical injury. The amendment affects state and local public-safety employers, workers’ compensation administrators, and covered first responders, while preserving the statute’s existing framework for medical diagnosis and line-of-duty causation.
The available record shows no committee transcript or recorded vote, so there is no direct evidence of debate or opposition in the provided materials. Based on the enacted text, the bill appears to reflect a generally supportive policy approach toward first responders by recognizing mental health injuries as work-related in more circumstances. The absence of recorded controversy suggests the measure may have been viewed as a targeted expansion of benefits rather than a broadly disputed change.
The main points of potential contention are the scope of covered mental health claims and the evidentiary standard for proving that a condition arose from a qualifying event in the line of duty. Employers or insurers could be concerned about the expansion to PTSD claims without physical injury beginning in 2027, while supporters would likely emphasize the occupational risks faced by police officers and firefighters. Another possible issue is the statute’s reliance on diagnosis by a psychiatrist or psychologist and the continued requirement that firefighters comply with specified OSHA-related standards.