I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 931 
To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop a 
voluntary registry to collect data on cancer incidence among firefighters. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 7, 2017 
Mr. COLLINS of New York (for himself, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. AMODEI, Mr. 
BARLETTA, Mr. BARR, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BOST, 
Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mrs. BUSTOS, 
Mrs. COMSTOCK, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. 
DONOVAN, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. ESTY, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. FASO, 
Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HECK, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Ms. 
KAPTUR, Mr. KATKO, Mr. KILMER, Mr. KIND, Mr. KING of New York, 
Mr. KNIGHT, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LIPINSKI, 
Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New 
York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. MOULTON, 
Mr. NADLER, Mr. NOLAN, Mr. NORCROSS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. 
PERLMUTTER, Mr. PETERSON, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POLIQUIN, Mr. 
RENACCI, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky, Mr. RYAN 
of Ohio, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. SHUSTER, Ms. SINEMA, 
Mr. SIRES, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. SWALWELL 
of California, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. TONKO, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. VALADAO, 
Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. WALZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mrs. WATSON 
COLEMAN, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. 
LANCE, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New 
York, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, and Ms. STEFANIK) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
to develop a voluntary registry to collect data on cancer 
incidence among firefighters. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Firefighter Cancer 
Registry Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. PATIENT REGISTRY FOR FIREFIGHTER CANCER IN-
CIDENCE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, acting through the Director of the Cen-
ters for Disease Control and Prevention, shall develop and 
maintain, directly or through a grant or cooperative agree-
ment, a voluntary registry of firefighters (referred to in 
this section as the ‘‘Firefighter Registry’’) to collect rel-
evant history and occupational information of such fire-
fighters that can be linked to available cancer registry 
data collected by existing State cancer registries. 
(b) USE OF FIREFIGHTER REGISTRY.—The Fire-
fighter Registry shall be used for the following purposes: 
(1) To establish and improve collection infra-
structure and activities related to the nationwide 
monitoring of the incidence of cancer among fire-
fighters. 
(2) To collect, consolidate, store, and make 
publicly available epidemiological information related 
to cancer incidence and trends among firefighters. 
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(c) RELEVANT DATA.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—In carrying out the vol-
untary data collection for purposes of inclusion 
under the Firefighter Registry, the Secretary should 
seek to include the following information: 
(A) Identifiable information from a rep-
resentative sample size, as determined by the 
Secretary under subsection (d)(2)(A), of volun-
teer, paid-on-call, and career firefighters, inde-
pendent of cancer status or diagnosis. 
(B) With respect to individual risk factors 
and work history of firefighters, available infor-
mation on— 
(i) basic demographic information, in-
cluding the age of the firefighter involved; 
(ii) a listing of status of the fire-
fighter as either volunteer, paid-on-call, or 
career firefighter; 
(iii) the number of years on the job 
and a detailing of additional employment 
experience that was either performed con-
currently alongside firefighting service, be-
fore, or anytime thereafter; 
(iv)(I) a measure of the number of 
fire incidents attended as well as the type 
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of fire incidents (such as residential house 
fire or commercial fire); or 
(II) in the case of a firefighter who is 
unable to provide information on such 
number and type, an estimate of such 
number and type based on the method de-
veloped under subsection (d)(2); 
(v) a list of additional risk factors, in-
cluding smoking or drug use, as deter-
mined relevant by the Secretary; and 
(vi) other physical examination and 
medical history information relevant to a 
cancer incidence study or general health of 
firefighters not available in existing cancer 
registries. 
(C) Any additional information that is 
deemed necessary by the Secretary. 
(2) DIAGNOSES AND TREATMENT.—In carrying 
out the data collection for purposes of inclusion 
under the Firefighter Registry, with respect to diag-
noses and treatment of firefighters diagnosed with 
cancer, the Secretary shall enable the Firefighter 
Registry to link to State-based cancer registries, for 
a purpose described by clause (vi) or (vii) of section 
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399B(c)(2)(D) of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 280e(c)(2)(D)), to obtain information on— 
(A) administrative information, including 
date of diagnoses and source of information; 
and 
(B) pathological data characterizing the 
cancer, including cancer site, state of disease 
(pursuant to Staging Guide), incidence, and 
type of treatment. 
(d) METHODS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes described 
in subsection (b), the Secretary is authorized to in-
corporate questions into public health surveys, ques-
tionnaires, and other databases. 
(2) REQUIRED STRATEGY.—The Secretary shall 
develop a strategy, working in consultation with the 
stakeholders identified in subsection (e), to maximize 
participation in the Firefighter Registry established 
under this Act. At minimum, the strategy shall in-
clude the following: 
(A) Identified minimum participation tar-
gets for volunteer, paid-on-call, and career fire-
fighters. 
(B) A strategy for increasing awareness of 
the Firefighter Registry and maximizing par-
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