There’s a renewed effort to ensure certain families of fallen first responders receive the benefits they’re due.

At the core of this work is an assistant fire chief whose family is still fighting for those benefits more than two years after his line of duty death. 

That firefighter and career public servant is James ‘Jimmy’ Scanlon, who, after a fire call with the Hopkins Fire Department in 2022, had a heart attack hours later and passed away the next day. 

Tony Martin, a friend of Jimmy who climbed the first responder ranks along with him, called him a great guy and a good friend. 

“He was one that he never wanted to be in the front, but he was always there to help,” Martin said. “It’s tough because … it’s still hard to think that he’s not here,” he added. 

With Jimmy’s passing being considered a line-of-duty death, and given his decades working in public safety, Martin couldn’t believe to hear his state death benefits were denied. 

“What he gave, he is the prime example of who should be receiving these benefits,” Martin said. 

Minnesota’s Public Safety Officer Death Benefit Program provides a one-time payment to families of the fallen.

Eligibility is laid out in state law — requirements Minnesota lawmakers are working on changing at the Capitol. 

“It was very frustrating,” said Sen. Jeff Howe (R-Rockville) about learning Jimmy’s benefits were denied. 

Sen. Howe says his part-time status and his last fire call — which was a false alarm — led to the denial. He says his bill, which will be filed in the coming days, will fix that. 

A career firefighter himself, Howe says there are many layers to the health impacts the job creates. 

“Where the stress comes in is when that alarm comes in, when your pager goes off, [you] respond because you don’t know what you’re going to. That’s when the stress of the heart happens,” Howe said. 

He said part of the changes would also allow families who lost first responder loved ones who passed because of COVID-19 to benefit. 

“We’re going to get these families taken care of so they get that line of duty, death benefit that they justly, that I believe they deserve,” Howe added. 

Since 2022, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) — which oversees the program — has had 19 approvals and 12 denials. 

“This is truly an honor to be able to be a part of this,” DPS Commissioner Bob Jacobson said. 

Commissioner Jacobson has been part of the conversations crafting the legislative changes.

“I think there are some changes that could be made that would be beneficial,” Jacobson said. 

And while he can’t comment on Jimmy’s case, as it’s getting appealed, he says this part of his job weighs heavy. 

“Our heart and our soul go into this. We want to support them. We care about them, and we know that it’s a tremendous sacrifice when they lose a family member to a line of duty death,” he added. 

For Sen. Howe, he has confidence this bill will get a hearing and have bipartisan support.