2025 Texas sessionsRegular and both called sessions have ended. This index covers House and Senate bills, not resolutions. Statuses come from official reports.

2025 · Regular session · House bill

HB198

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Official caption: Relating to periodic health screenings for firefighters.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Bumgarner, Martinez, Cole, Spiller, Walle. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.

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Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.

Bill highlights

Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.

HB198, the Wade Cannon Act, requires a political subdivision employing covered firefighters to offer them a confidential occupational cancer screening at no cost to the firefighter in their fifth year of employment and annually afterward.
Alongside cancer testing, the screening must include a urine test, a pulmonary-function test, an electrocardiogram, infectious-disease screening, breast-cancer screening and a blood test.
There is an alternative to this screening requirement.
Coverage follows the statutory definition of “fire protection personnel,” rather than everyone colloquially called a firefighter.

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What does it do?

HB198, the Wade Cannon Act, requires a political subdivision employing covered firefighters to offer them a confidential occupational cancer screening at no cost to the firefighter in their fifth year of employment and annually afterward. It took effect June 1, 2026. The duty is to offer screening; the act does not require every firefighter to undergo it. Final act

Alongside cancer testing, the screening must include a urine test, a pulmonary-function test, an electrocardiogram, infectious-disease screening, breast-cancer screening and a blood test. A chest X-ray is included subject to a separate limit: a firefighter is eligible for it during the screening once every five years, not every year. The Texas Commission on Fire Protection must establish minimum screening standards using standards developed by the National Fire Protection Association. Section 180.011(c)–(e), added by the act

There is an alternative to this screening requirement. A local government need not offer the statutory screening if it offers an annual occupational medical examination under a plan submitted to the commission by February 1 each year. The plan must be physician-endorsed and substantially comply with National Fire Protection Association standards. The commission must adopt rules implementing this alternative. Simply offering some other checkup is not the exception described in the law. Section 180.011(f)

Coverage follows the statutory definition of “fire protection personnel,” rather than everyone colloquially called a firefighter. It includes specified permanent, full-time local-government personnel, including designated fire and arson investigators and personnel assigned covered fire-related duties; it excludes the listed clerical and similar support positions. This is not a general screening entitlement for all volunteers or private-sector workers. Government Code Section 419.021

What changed along the way?

The filed bill and House committee report proposed screening in the fifth employment year and every three years afterward, with testing for each type of cancer and examples including colorectal, prostate where applicable, lung and brain cancer. They proposed a September 1, 2025 effective date. Those details should not be mistaken for the final law. Filed text · House report

The House adopted Representative Martinez’s second-reading amendment May 5. It changed later screenings to annual, replaced the original cancer-testing list with cancer testing plus specified tests, limited chest X-rays to once every five years, added the commission’s standards and alternative-examination-plan provisions, and moved the effective date to June 1, 2026. Martinez amendment

On May 6, the House adopted Representative Cole’s third-reading amendment adding breast-cancer screening. Both amendments appear in the House-passed text. The Senate committee report and enrolled act retain that substantive text; the Senate did not add another change. Cole amendment · House-passed text · Senate report · Amendment index

The House passed HB198 May 6 by 148–1, with one present but not voting. The Senate passed it May 19 by 31–0. The governor signed it May 29, 2025. Vote certificates · Official history

For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.

Official bill versions

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?

Covered firefighters could gain access to regular confidential screening without paying for the statutory screening themselves. Screening may identify health concerns requiring follow-up, but the bill and fiscal note do not quantify earlier diagnoses, lives saved or the accuracy of particular tests. The act does not promise that all later diagnostic work or treatment will be free. Final act

Local governments that do not already provide the relevant examinations may bear new screening and administrative costs. The Legislative Budget Board anticipated no state fiscal implication but said there could be a local-government impact for employers not already offering occupational cancer screenings. It supplied no statewide dollar estimate. The alternative annual-examination plan can avoid duplicating the statutory screening when its conditions are met, but preparing, endorsing and submitting a compliant plan also takes resources. Latest posted fiscal note, May 10 · Alternative-plan provision

Official sources

Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.