I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1629 

To require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to review 

and make certain revisions to the Standard Occupational Classification 

System, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2019 

Mrs. TORRES of California (for herself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. SHALALA, Mr. 

MEADOWS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. STAUBER, and Ms. 

WILD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To require the Director of the Office of Management and 

Budget to review and make certain revisions to the 

Standard Occupational Classification System, and for 

other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Supporting Accurate 

5 Views of Emergency Services Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘911 

6 SAVES Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Public Safety Telecommunicators play a 

4 critical role in emergency response. 

5 (2) The work Public Safety Telecommunicators 

6 perform goes far beyond merely relaying information 

7 between the public and first responders. 

8 (3) When responding to reports of missing, ab9 ducted, and sexually exploited children, the informa10 tion obtained and actions taken by Public Safety 

11 Telecommunicators form the foundation for an effec12 tive response. 

13 (4) When a hostage taker or suicidal person 

14 calls 9–1–1, the first contact is with the Public Safe15 ty Telecommunicator whose negotiation skills can 

16 prevent the situation from getting worse. 

17 (5) During active shooter incidents, Public 

18 Safety Telecommunicators coach callers through 

19 first aid and give advice to prevent further harm, all 

20 while collecting vital information to provide situa21 tional awareness for responding officers. 

22 (6) And when police officers, firefighters, and 

23 Emergency Medical Technicians are being shot at, 

24 their calls for help go to Public Safety Telecommu25 nicators. 


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1 (7) They are often communicating with people 

2 in great distress, harm, fear, or injury, while em3 ploying their experience and training to recognize a 

4 critical piece of information. 

5 (8) In fact, there have been incidents in which 

6 Public Safety Telecommunicators, recognizing the 

7 sound of a racked shotgun, have prevented serious 

8 harm or death of law enforcement officers who 

9 would have otherwise walked into a trap. 

10 (9) This work comes with an extreme emotional 

11 and physical impact that is compounded by long 

12 hours and the around-the-clock nature of the job. 

13 (10) Indeed, research has suggested that Public 

14 Safety Telecommunicators are exposed to trauma 

15 that may lead to the development of posttraumatic 

16 stress disorder. 

17 (11) Recognizing the risks associated with expo18 sure to traumatic events, some agencies provide 

19 Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) teams to 

20 lessen the psychological impact and accelerate recov21 ery for Public Safety Telecommunicators and first 

22 responders, alike. 

23 (12) The Standard Occupational Classification 

24 system is designed and maintained solely for statis25 tical purposes, and is used by federal statistical 


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1 agencies to classify workers and jobs into occupa2 tional categories for the purpose of collecting, calcu3 lating, analyzing, or disseminating data. 

4 (13) Occupations in the Standard Occupational 

5 Classification are classified based on work performed 

6 and, in some cases, on the skills, education, or train7 ing needed to perform the work. 

8 (14) Classifying public safety telecommunica9 tors as Protective Service Occupations would correct 

10 an inaccurate representation in the Standard Occu11 pational Classification, recognize these professionals 

12 for the lifesaving work they perform, and better 

13 align the Standard Occupational Classification with 

14 related classification systems. 

15 SEC. 3. REVIEW OF STANDARD OCCUPATIONAL CLASSI16 FICATION SYSTEM. 

17 The Director of the Office of Management and Budg18 et shall not later than 30 days after the date of the enact19 ment of this Act, categorize public safety telecommunica20 tors as a protective service occupation under the Standard 

21 Occupational Classification System. 

Æ 


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