Bill Analyses and Ratings
Bill Information: S1425 – Expands First Responder PTSI Coverage to Coroners
Bill Summary
Senate Bill 1425 amends Idaho Code Section 72-451 to add coroners, medicolegal death investigators, and qualifying coroner employees to the list of workers eligible for post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI) worker’s compensation benefits. Previously, the statute’s definition of ‘first responder’ covered peace officers, firefighters, volunteer emergency responders, emergency medical services providers, ambulance-based clinicians, and emergency communications officers — but not those who work in death investigation roles.
The new subsection (vi) extends coverage to coroners and medicolegal death investigators as defined in Idaho Code Section 31-2811, and to any coroner employee whose duties primarily consist of determining cause and manner of death — including death investigation, forensic pathology, related duties, and supportive administrative functions. To accommodate this addition, the bill replaces the conjunction ‘and’ before subsection (v) with ‘and’ after it, making (vi) the final item in the list.
The bill is declared an emergency measure and takes effect July 1, 2026. Like the existing PTSI provisions for other first responders, the new coverage applies to dates of injury or manifestations of occupational disease on or after July 1, 2019, and excludes injuries arising from personnel actions such as disciplinary proceedings, job evaluations, or employment termination.
Overall Assessment
This bill extends worker’s compensation coverage for post-traumatic stress injury to coroners, medicolegal death investigators, and coroner employees whose work centers on determining cause and manner of death. These workers — who routinely handle traumatic death scenes, forensic examinations, and death notifications — previously had no pathway to PTSI benefits available to other first responders under Idaho law. The change is narrow and targeted, affecting a small occupational category without altering the underlying eligibility standards or compensation framework that governs all other first responders.
Rating Breakdown
ARTICLE I. Responsibility in Government (0)
The bill makes a targeted definitional change to worker's compensation law, adding one new category of eligible workers. It creates no new agencies, alters no oversight structures, and imposes no new reporting or accountability requirements on government.
ARTICLE II. Citizen Involvement in Government (0)
The bill modifies an occupational injury benefit definition and has no bearing on voting, elections, political participation, or the mechanisms by which citizens engage with their government.
ARTICLE III. Education (0)
The bill's sole change is expanding the first responder definition for PTSI worker's compensation purposes. It has no connection to school funding, curriculum, parental rights, or any other education policy matter.
ARTICLE IV. Agriculture (0)
This bill addresses worker's compensation eligibility for death investigation personnel and has no relationship to agricultural policy, farm operations, water rights, or rural land use.
ARTICLE V. Water (0)
The bill's changes are confined to the definition of 'first responder' in the PTSI worker's compensation statute and have no connection to water appropriation, management, or conservation.
ARTICLE VI. Natural Resources and Environment (0)
Expanding PTSI eligibility to coroners and death investigators has no bearing on natural resource management, environmental regulation, or land stewardship policy.
ARTICLE VII. Energy (0)
The bill addresses worker's compensation definitions and has no connection to energy production, regulation, or infrastructure.
ARTICLE VIII. Idaho National Laboratories (0)
The bill's changes to first responder eligibility for PTSI benefits have no relationship to the Idaho National Laboratory, its research mission, or its workforce.
ARTICLE IX. Private Property Rights (0)
The bill modifies a worker's compensation eligibility definition and does not affect property ownership, takings, land use, or any other private property interest.
ARTICLE X. State and Federal Lands (0)
This bill's scope is limited to occupational injury benefits for a specific class of workers and has no bearing on the management, ownership, or administration of state or federal lands.
ARTICLE XI. Wildlife Management (0)
The bill addresses PTSI worker's compensation for coroners and death investigators and has no connection to wildlife management, hunting, fishing, or predator control policy.
ARTICLE XII. Economy (0)
While the bill modestly expands worker's compensation liability for employers of coroners and death investigators, the affected workforce is small and the change operates within an existing statutory framework. It does not alter broader labor regulations, business requirements, or economic policy.
ARTICLE XIII. Health and Welfare (0)
Although the bill expands access to mental health-related injury benefits for a specific occupational group, it operates within the worker's compensation insurance system rather than the broader health care delivery or public welfare policy domains. The change is an incremental eligibility adjustment, not a structural shift in health or welfare programs.
ARTICLE XIV. American Family (0)
The bill addresses occupational injury compensation for death investigation professionals and has no connection to family policy, marriage, parental rights, or child welfare.
ARTICLE XV. Older Americans (0)
The bill's changes to first responder definitions for PTSI worker's compensation have no specific application to older Idahoans or policies governing retirement, elder care, or age-related employment protections.
ARTICLE XVI. Law and Order with Justice (0)
Although coroners and medicolegal death investigators work within the criminal justice system, this bill addresses their worker's compensation benefits rather than criminal procedure, law enforcement authority, sentencing, or any other justice policy matter covered by this metric.
ARTICLE XVII. National Defense - Securing the Border (0)
The bill is a state-level worker's compensation amendment with no connection to military affairs, border security, veterans' benefits, or national defense policy.
ARTICLE XVIII. Election of Judges and Idaho Supreme Court Justices (0)
The bill amends a worker's compensation definition and has no bearing on judicial selection, court structure, or constitutional interpretation.
ARTICLE XIX. Religious Liberty (0)
The bill's changes are confined to occupational injury benefit eligibility and have no connection to religious freedom, conscience protections, or government interference in religious practice.