Sponsors (3)
The bill substantially strengthens miners’ ability to obtain and receive indexed Black Lung benefits and funds medical evaluations and legal support, improving access and protections for affected workers, but it increases costs and employer liability, raises privacy and fairness risks, and creates short‑term administrative and transitional burdens.
Coal miners, survivors, and claimants: the bill creates an irrebuttable presumption for complicated pneumoconiosis when specified high-quality test results exist and funds Secretary‑ordered complete pulmonary evaluations (with Secretary physician reports placed in the record), making it substantially easier to establish entitlement to benefits.
Disabled miners and beneficiaries: raises total‑disability benefit rates and indexes them to CPI‑W (starting with a specified 2026 amount), preserving and improving income support over time.
Claimants pursuing contested claims: establishes a program to pay claimants’ attorneys’ fees and unreimbursed medical expenses (subject to caps), reducing out‑of‑pocket costs and improving access to legal representation.
Taxpayers and employers/operators: expanding presumptions, funding evaluations, indexing higher benefit rates, and paying upfront fees is likely to increase program costs and employer/liability exposure, raising federal outlays and potential taxpayer burden.
Coal companies and coal communities: stricter self‑insurance/collateral rules and higher employer liability could force some operators to exit or consolidate, risking job losses and economic harm in coal regions.
Taxpayers and privacy‑conscious individuals: overriding certain federal/state privacy protections to allow Social Security earnings disclosure to DOL for claims administration raises risks of exposing sensitive earnings and tax information.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Establishes an irrebuttable presumption for complicated pneumoconiosis, expands medical-evidence development and evaluations, revises spouse/survivor definitions, and reorganizes a DOL workers' compensation office.
Introduced December 16, 2025 by Timothy Michael Kaine · Last progress December 16, 2025
Creates a stronger, clearer path for coal miners and their survivors to obtain Black Lung benefits by establishing an irrebuttable presumption for complicated pneumoconiosis based on specified medical tests, requiring the Department of Labor to develop and enter claimant medical evidence (including CT scans and evaluations by qualified physicians), updating spouse/survivor definitions, and reorganizing a workers’ compensation office within DOL. The bill makes technical and textual modernizations to the Black Lung Benefits Act but does not authorize new appropriations or create new funding streams.