Pennsylvania Governor Rendell Kills Cancer Presumption Bill

November 29, 2010 -- Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, in one of his last acts as governor, vetoed a bill that enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support and would have made it easier for fire fighters who develop cancer to collect workers' compensation benefits.

Pennsylvania fire fighters have struggled for nearly 20 years to win passage of cancer presumption legislation, and efforts were redoubled this year as political support expanded in the state legislature. The measure, HB 1231, had passed the Pennsylvania House by a vote of 195-1, and carried a GOP-controlled Senate with only four dissenting votes.

Rendell, former chair of the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Governors Association, was the only lawmaker left standing in the way of this important measure for Pennsylvania fire fighters.

The outgoing governor waited until the very end of the state’s legislative calendar to kill the bill with his veto pen, leaving fire fighters with almost no opportunity to convince legislators to override the veto.

“The Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association (PPFFA) is profoundly disappointed, but not surprised, by Governor Rendell’s veto of the cancer presumption legislation,” says PPFFA President Art Martynuska. “This legislation had wide bipartisan support in both chambers of the Pennsylvania legislature. In fact, there were only eight negative votes against the bill since its inception.”

IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger was equally dismayed by Governor Rendell’s action. “With governors like Ed Rendell, who needs enemies? He can’t leave office soon enough,” Schaitberger says.

If Rendell had allowed the bill to become law, Pennsylvania would have joined 32 other states that offer cancer presumption in some form to fire fighters. Interestingly, several Republican governors in recent years have enacted cancer presumption for fire fighters. In the past 10 years, current Republican Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rick Perry, Mitch Daniel, Jim Gibbons, Jodi Rell and Jim Douglas, as well as past GOP Governors Sarah Palin, Matt Blunt George Allen and George Pataki in California, Texas, Indiana, Nevada, Vermont, Alaska, Missouri, Virginia and New York, respectively, all signed versions of rebuttable cancer presumption legislation for fire fighters in their states.

Many Democratic governors also have signed cancer presumption bills into law over the past 10 years – including Bill Ritter in Colorado, Chet Culver in Iowa, Kathleen Blanco in Louisiana, John Baldacci in Maine, Bill Richardson in New Mexico, Ted Kulongoski in Oregon, Christine Gregoire in Washington and Jim Doyle in Wisconsin.

The outgoing governor indicated he had been swayed by the National League of Cities, which compiled a white paper collection of selected data from various sources to call into question the need for cancer presumption for fire fighters.

Sound medical research, however, has demonstrated that fire fighters are at a greater risk of developing certain forms of cancer as a result of their working conditions. Furthermore, a close examination of states with cancer presumption laws finds that the cost of benefits claims to be substantially less than claimed by the League of Cities.

Though Rendell’s veto has likely dashed hopes for cancer presumption in Pennsylvania during this legislative session, Martynuska remains determined to keep fighting for the measure next year.

In an encouraging sign, Pennsylvania Governor-elect Tom Corbett, a Republican, has indicated that he supports cancer presumption, calling it a “responsible investment in public safety across the Commonwealth.”