This bill amends existing law, specifically RCW 51.32.185, and creates a new section naming the act the "Erik Shouse memorial act." The amendment removes parenthetical timing qualifiers previously attached to the phrase "any heart problems" in two subsections, and otherwise retains the statute's existing prima facie occupational disease presumptions for covered firefighters, public and certain private fire investigators, and certain law enforcement officers (including presumptions for respiratory disease, heart problems, specified cancers, infectious diseases, and posttraumatic stress disorder). The presumptions remain rebuttable by a preponderance of the evidence, and the bill preserves existing appeal cost-shifting rules and the statutory rules extending the presumptions for a period after termination of service (three calendar months per year of requisite service, not to exceed 60 months). The bill keeps detailed qualifying rules for the cancer presumption (including a 10-year service requirement before cancer develops or manifests, a list of covered cancer types, and conditions tied to whether the employer provided required qualifying medical examinations based on employment dates of July 28, 2019, and a July 1, 2020 deadline). It also preserves the list of infectious diseases covered and the exclusion for regular users of tobacco products from coverage for heart or lung conditions beginning July 1, 2003, with the department directed to define the extent of tobacco use that triggers the exclusion. The posttraumatic stress disorder presumption likewise requires PTSD to develop or manifest after at least 10 years of service and references a psychological exam statute. The amendment requires the director to create an advisory committee on occupational disease presumptions with specified composition, duties, four-year terms, and reporting requirements, and it identifies the types of parties and agencies affected (firefighters as defined in RCW 41.26.030(17), fire investigators, law enforcement officers as defined in RCW 41.26.030(19), employers including certain private fire departments, the department’s safety and health assessment and research for prevention program, the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, and courts). The extracted text does not include the underlying definitions of "firefighter" or "law enforcement officer" in the cited RCW subsections, does not explicitly name the department referenced, and does not show the full prior timing language that was deleted for heart problems.

If enacted, the bill keeps long-standing presumptions that certain cancers, respiratory diseases, infectious diseases, PTSD (after 10 years), and heart problems are work-related for covered firefighters, fire investigators, and specified law enforcement officers, but it removes the bill’s prior parenthetical timing qualifiers attached to “any heart problems,” which could make it easier for those workers to qualify for coverage for heart conditions. Practically, covered workers and their families may have a stronger path to accepted claims for these conditions, employers (including private fire departments with more than 50 firefighters) and the state-funded accident fund may see more or differently timed claims, and legal costs on successful appeals are shifted to the losing side (with state fund cases’ costs paid from and charged to the claim), while the advisory committee and existing serviceand exam-based rules (including the 10-year cancer rule, qualifying medical exam deadlines, the post-termination extension of benefits up to 60 months, and the tobacco-use exclusion) continue to shape eligibility. Key uncertainties remain because the exact deleted timing language for heart problems and the precise statutory definitions of which firefighters and law enforcement officers are covered are not included in the provided text, and the specific department named to run the advisory program is not identified here; those missing details affect exactly how much broader eligibility and financial impact will be.