CT Firefighters Cancer Relief Fund Overview

UPDATE: Telephone Surcharge for Firefighter Cancer Relief Account Delayed until Jan. 1, 2027

In the November 2025 Special Session, the General Assembly postponed the 5-cent fee on telephone subscriber lines, initially enacted in Public Act 25-168, until January 1, 2027. The legislation also removed the opt-out provision allowing customers to elect not to pay the fee, so the associated requirements for providers to communicate to customers about opting out were also repealed. The Office of the Treasurer will provide information in 2026 about the process for remitting the fee starting in 2027. The relevant legislation postponing the fee and removing the opt-out provisions is in Section 11 of Public Act No. 25-3 (House Bill 8004) of the November 2025 Special Session, which can be accessed here: Public Act No. 25-3 

FIREFIGHTERS CANCER RELIEF FUND OVERVIEW

 

Welcome to the Treasurer’s website pages for the Connecticut Firefighters Cancer Relief Account. Below is a summary of the program and the enabling statutes and eligibility requirements.

• The Firefighter Cancer Relief Account was established in 2016 by Public Act 16-10.  This Account is used for two programs:

1. Wage replacement when approved by a subcommittee of the Connecticut State Firefighters Association.  Additional information about that program is available here. 
2. Compensation and benefits through a claim administered by a municipal or state employer through the Municipal and State Employer Reimbursement Program established by Public Act 23-204, Sec. 159 and amended by Public Act 25-4, Sec. 1 (codified in the Connecticut General Statutes at Sec. 7-313p), which is summarized below.

• In 2023 and as amended in 2025, the legislature established the Firefighters Cancer Relief Municipal Employer and State Employer Reimbursement Program (“Program”), providing for municipal or state employers to pay compensation and benefits to eligible firefighters with cancer who meet certain statutory criteria “in the same amount and in the same manner that would be provided under [the Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Act]” and then seek reimbursement from the Office of the Treasurer.
• Under the Program, a municipal or state employer of a claimant firefighter “administer[s] claims submitted [under the Program] in the same manner as workers' compensation claims under [the Workers’ Compensation Act].”
• Municipal employers are fully reimbursed for payments made under this Program to eligible claimants for covered compensation and benefits. Public Act 25-4, effective October 1, 2025, provides state employers may also submit applications for reimbursement to the Office of the Treasurer.
• Firefighters qualify only if the following is determined by the municipal or state employer – the firefighter:
  1. was diagnosed with any condition of cancer affecting the skin, brain or the skeletal, digestive, endocrine, respiratory, lymphatic, reproductive, urinary, or hematological systems that results in death or temporary or permanent total or partial disability;
  2. had a physical examination after entering the service that failed to reveal any evidence the cancer;
  3. not used cigarettes during the 15 years before the diagnosis;
  4. worked for at least five years in any combination as (a) an interior structural firefighter at a municipal or state employer, or volunteer fire department or (2) a local fire marshal, deputy fire marshal, fire investigator, fire inspector, or another class of inspectors or investigators for whom the state fire marshal and Codes and Standards Committee have jointly adopted minimum qualification standards; and
  5. submitted to annual medical health screenings as recommended by the firefighter’s medical provider.

Municipal or state employers may submit reimbursement requests by using the forms available here and will find additional information regarding the reimbursement process in the document titled, “Overview and Directions for Municipal Employer and State Employer Reimbursement Claims”.

Contact Us: 

Sharon Anderson

Director of Financial Services

Office of the Treasurer

ott.firefighterfund@ct.gov

860-702-3290

 

Updated December 2, 2025