Sponsors (6)
The bill strengthens benefits, diagnostics, legal access, and administrative clarity for miners and survivors—improving timeliness and protections—but does so at increased cost and risk of greater regulatory burden, privacy and legal‑process tradeoffs, and short‑term administrative disruption.
People with black lung disease and their survivors would receive higher, inflation‑indexed benefit payments (annual rate raised to $10,769 for 2026 and tied to CPI‑W), preserving purchasing power for medical care and living expenses.
Miners and survivors with complicated pneumoconiosis who show large opacities on objective testing would get an irrebuttable presumption of total disability/death, making it easier for seriously ill claimants to obtain benefits and retroactive payments.
Claimants would gain better access to diagnostic evidence and legal support—Secretary‑provided complete pulmonary evaluations (including CT) at no upfront cost, funding to cover attorneys' fees and unreimbursed medical expenses for long‑pending contested claims, and measures to improve access to representation—reducing financial barriers to pursuing claims.
Raising benefit levels, expanding payments for evaluations, fees, and medical costs, and indexing benefits will increase federal liabilities and could raise taxpayer costs if the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund requires replenishment from general revenues.
Stricter collateral and self‑insurance requirements, plus broader definitions of liable parties, could raise costs for coal operators and affiliated businesses, increasing the risk of accelerated mine closures, bankruptcies, and local economic harm in coal communities.
Expanded administrative, inspection, sampling, and enforcement standards could raise regulatory compliance costs for operators and potentially modestly increase coal production costs and energy prices.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Introduced December 16, 2025 by Morgan McGarvey · Last progress December 16, 2025
Makes multiple changes to how federal black lung benefits are awarded, paid, and administered to expand claimant access, increase benefit rates, require federal medical evaluations, tighten fraud and attorney/expert sanctions, and strengthen rules for employer self‑insurance and fund security. It shifts some evaluation and fee costs to the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund with operator reimbursement where a final award issues, sets a higher 2026 benefit rate and thereafter indexes benefits to inflation, and creates administrative deadlines and rulemaking requirements to speed adjudication and oversight. Creates a new Department of Labor Office of Workers' Compensation Programs led by a presidentially appointed, Senate‑confirmed director and makes technical and gender‑neutral edits throughout the statute. The bill also allows certain claim refilings when earlier chest x‑rays were later directed to be discredited, and adds criminal penalties and permanent disqualification for knowing false statements or intimidation in black lung proceedings.