Today's Labor and Workforce Development committee meeting included moving testimony from the widow of a Federal Way police officer who died last year of a heart attack while securing a crime scene.
Vanessa Walsh spoke in favor of House Bill 1445, also known as the "Brian Walsh Act," in honor of her husband.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, who sees it as a way to help the Walsh family and protect other families from going through what Vanessa Walsh has experienced in the aftermath of her husband's death.
Although the federal government found that Officer Walsh - who was a 34-year-old, healthy non-smoker - died a duty-related death, the state of Washington didn't see it that way. As a result, his family (which includes three children) was not eligible for survivor benefits normally available to the families of officers and firefighters who die in the line of duty.
"Duty-related heart attacks and strokes need to be covered," Van De Wege said. "This bill establishes a clear nexus between the onset of the stroke or heart attack, and the duty that a firefighter or officer was performing for his or her job."
