II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2971 

To require the Secretary of Labor to revise the Standard Occupational Classification System to accurately count the number of emergency medical 

services practitioners in the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 7, 2021 

Mr. CASEY (for himself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Labor to revise the Standard 

Occupational Classification System to accurately count 

the number of emergency medical services practitioners 

in the United States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘EMS Counts Act of 

5 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Emergency Medical Services (in this Act re2 ferred to as ‘‘EMS’’) personnel provide a critical role 

3 in emergency response. EMS consists of a diverse 

4 group of health care practitioners, such as para5 medics, emergency medical technicians (in this Act 

6 referred to as ‘‘EMTs’’), dual-role firefighter/EMTs, 

7 firefighter/paramedics, and volunteer personnel serv8 ing in each of such roles. 

9 (2) EMS is an integral component of the re10 sponse capacity of the United States to disasters 

11 and public health crises, such as outbreaks of infec12 tious diseases, bombings, mass shootings, earth13 quakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes. EMS personnel 

14 respond to more than 22,000,000 emergency calls 

15 each year including strokes, heart attacks, cardiac 

16 arrest, and trauma. 

17 (3) The Bureau of Labor Statistics compiles in18 formation on the number of individuals working in 

19 roles across the entire United States workforce. The 

20 Bureau of Labor Statistics completes this work by 

21 maintaining the Standard Occupational Classifica22 tion system which classifies workers and jobs into 

23 occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, 

24 calculating, analyzing, or disseminating data. 


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1 (4) The BLS fails to accurately count EMS 

2 practitioners because of its failure to include dual3 role firefighter/EMTs and firefighter/paramedics in 

4 their count of EMS personnel. 

5 (5) Accurately counting the EMS workforce is 

6 critical for government agencies in determining the 

7 needs of EMS agencies and practitioners. These 

8 data are also crucial for informing many aspects of 

9 policy including preparedness for natural disasters, 

10 public health emergencies, and acts of terrorism. 

11 SEC. 3. RECOGNITION OF DUAL-ROLE FIREFIGHTERS AS 

12 EMS PRACTITIONERS. 

13 Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact14 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor, in collaboration 

15 with the Director of the Office of Management and Budg16 et, shall revise the broad description under the occupa17 tional series ‘‘33–2011 Firefighters’’ of the 2018 Stand18 ard Occupational Classification System of the Bureau of 

19 Labor Statistics to include the following detailed occupa20 tions: 

21 (1) Firefighters. 

22 (2) Firefighter/EMTs. 

23 (3) Firefighter/Paramedics. 

24 (4) Firefighters, All Other. 


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1 SEC. 4. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

2 Not later than 270 days after the enactment of this 

3 Act, the Secretary of Labor, in collaboration with the Di4 rector of the Office of Management and Budget, shall sub5 mit to Congress a report that details— 

6 (1) the actions taken in 2015 to expand the 

7 definition ‘‘29–2040 Emergency Medical Technicians 

8 and Paramedics’’ to separately account for the num9 bers of EMTs and paramedics; and 

10 (2) the implementation of the revisions under 

11 section 3. 

Æ 


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