Right now, several people in the Valley are championing for a Senate Bill that would protect first responders.

Lt. Homer Salinas, from the Mission Fire Department, remembers his own as he reads the names of Mission firefighters that lost their lives due to health-related issues that rose from working in the line of duty.

"My brothers, I call them my brothers they sat beside me in an engine," Salinas said.

Salinas has been with the fire department for 17 years. He says that in the last decade a number of his peers have been diagnosed with cancer- a disease that he himself has battled with and won.

"The insurance carrier TML, which is the insurance carrier for the city of Mission, filed a lawsuit when they filed a lawsuit was trying to overturn it earlier this year," Salinas explained.

Salinas says he filed a lawsuit under a presumptive law which ensures treatments for job-related illness to cover his medical costs for treatment.

But since then, the insurance company has overturned his claim, refusing to pay for them.

However, now a Senate bill could help first responders like Salinas.

Senate Bill 2551 could help firefighters and first responders get covered in the case they get injured or develop an illness while in the line of duty.

Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa introduced the bill to close loopholes he says are often used by health insurances to avoid covering medical costs of those who submit claims.

At the hearing on the bill, which took place this week, Salinas was asked to testify on why a bill like this should become law.

"It's not only happening to me it's happening in McAllen, it's happening in Baytown, and it's happening throughout Texas. We know there is a problem and hopefully, with this bill, we hope it clarifies it," Salinas said.

The Senate is expected to reach a decision on the bill by the end of this month.

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**Originally Posted May 6 2019