Align Benefits for Firefighters with Cancer.

SB 226 expands eligibility for death benefits under North Carolina's Public Safety Employees' Death Benefits Act to include firefighters who die from specific cancers. It adds any cancer diagnosed after January 1, 2022, that qualified a firefighter for benefits under the Firefighters' Cancer Insurance Program (or its predecessor, the Health Benefits Pilot Program) to the list of cancers presumed to be "killed in the line of duty." This means firefighters receiving cancer benefits under the program will automatically qualify for death benefits if they later die from that cancer. The bill also permanently establishes the Cancer Insurance Program as the successor to the pilot program and allocates $2 million annually for related death benefits starting July 1, 2025.