Bill > HR6756

This bill, the Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2025, aims to streamline and improve the process for coal miners and their families to receive benefits for pneumoconiosis, commonly known as black lung disease, by ensuring fairer and more timely claim processing. Key provisions include providing direct assistance with claims for miners and their families, clarifying eligibility by establishing an irrebuttable presumption of disability or death due to the disease if certain medical evidence like large opacities on chest X-rays or CT scans are present, and requiring the Secretary of Labor to develop medical evidence for claims, including authorizing CT scans when initial X-rays suggest pneumoconiosis. The bill also strengthens penalties for false statements, allows for attorney disqualification and discovery sanctions, and permits the re-adjudication of cases where expert opinions on chest radiographs were previously discredited. To ease the financial burden on miners pursuing claims, it establishes a program to pay attorneys' fees and medical expenses for contested claims that take longer than two years to resolve, with the aim of reimbursement from liable coal operators. Furthermore, it restores adequate benefit adjustments for miners and their dependents by tying benefit rates to inflation, improves the financial security of the Black Lung Benefits Disability Trust Fund by establishing stricter self-insurance requirements for coal mine operators, and formally establishes the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs within the Department of Labor. Finally, the bill includes provisions for improved disclosure of employment and earnings information to aid in claim processing and mandates a strategy to reduce delays in adjudicating claims.

Education

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/6756/all-info