II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3676 

To support the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters and 

emergency medical services personnel, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 1 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 

Mr. SANDERS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To support the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters and emergency medical services personnel, 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 ‘‘Volunteer Firefighter 

5 and EMS Support Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Volunteer firefighters and emergency med9 ical services personnel are a vital component of the 

10 first responders across the United States. 


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1 (2) The 800,000 volunteer firefighters and 

2 emergency medical service personnel in the United 

3 States save lives and property everyday. 

4 (3) The national financial savings resulting 

5 from volunteer firefighting and emergency medical 

6 services has been calculated at more than 

7 $37,000,000,000 each year. 

8 (4) Many volunteer fire stations and emergency 

9 medical services organizations in the United States 

10 face growing challenges as volunteers contend with 

11 increased competition for their time from their jobs, 

12 families, and other responsibilities. 

13 (5) Some State and local governments provide 

14 financial incentives to volunteer firefighters and 

15 emergency medical services personnel, such as retire16 ment benefits and tuition assistance. Unfortunately, 

17 many communities that rely on volunteer firefighters 

18 and emergency medical services personnel, especially 

19 rural and low-income communities, do not have the 

20 resources to provide such incentives. 

21 (6) There is an important role for the Federal 

22 Government and the Administrator of the United 

23 States Fire Administration in supporting volunteer 

24 firefighters and emergency medical services per25 sonnel, including providing funds to contribute to inVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:53 Oct 06, 2008 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3676.IS S3676

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1 centives for the recruitment and retention of volun2 teers. 

3 SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS AND 

4 EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES PER5 SONNEL. 

6 The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 

7 (15 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 

8 section 33 the following new section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 33A. ASSISTANCE FOR VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS 

10 AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES PER11 SONNEL. 

12 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab13 lish a program to provide funds to a State or local govern14 ment, non-profit firefighter association, or governmental 

15 or nongovernmental emergency medical services organiza16 tion, that carries out a volunteer firefighter incentive pro17 gram in accordance with the provisions of this section. 

18 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

19 ‘‘(1) APPROVED BENEFIT OR INCENTIVE.—The 

20 term ‘approved benefit or incentive’ means a benefit 

21 or incentive that has been approved by the Adminis22 trator and is provided to a volunteer firefighter, in23 cluding— 

24 ‘‘(A) a retirement benefit; 


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1 ‘‘(B) reimbursement for travel and train2 ing; 

3 ‘‘(C) health insurance or other health bene4 fits; 

5 ‘‘(D) life insurance; 

6 ‘‘(E) tuition or school loan forgiveness; 

7 ‘‘(F) a tax reduction; and 

8 ‘‘(G) any other benefit or incentive ap9 proved by the Administrator. 

10 ‘‘(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

11 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

12 ‘‘(3) VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER.—The term 

13 ‘volunteer firefighter’ means an individual who pro14 vides firefighting service or emergency medical serv15 ice to a State or local government or a governmental 

16 or nongovernmental organization without pay. A vol17 unteer firefighter may receive benefits or incentives 

18 for firefighting service or emergency medical service, 

19 including benefits and incentives described in sub20 paragraphs (A) through (G) of paragraph (1). 

21 ‘‘(4) VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER INCENTIVE

22 PROGRAM.—The term ‘volunteer firefighter incentive 

23 program’ means a program carried out by a State 

24 or local government, a non-profit firefighter associa25 tion, or a governmental or nongovernmental emerVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:53 Oct 06, 2008 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3676.IS S3676

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1 gency medical services organization to provide ap2 proved benefits or incentives. 

3 ‘‘(c) MATCHING PAYMENTS TO STATES.— 

4 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—For each fiscal year in 

5 which a State or local government, non-profit fire6 fighter association, or governmental or nongovern7 mental emergency medical services organization car8 ries out a volunteer firefighter incentive program, 

9 the Secretary shall pay such government, associa10 tion, or organization, out of any money in the Treas11 ury not otherwise appropriated for such fiscal year, 

12 an amount equal to the total amount of expenditures 

13 of funds not received from the Federal Government 

14 made by such government, association, or organiza15 tion for such fiscal year to carry out the volunteer 

16 firefighter incentive program. 

17 ‘‘(2) ENTITLEMENT.—Paragraph (1) con18 stitutes budget authority in advance of appropria19 tions Acts and represents the obligation of the Fed20 eral Government to provide payment to a State or 

21 local government, non-profit firefighter association, 

22 or governmental or nongovernmental emergency 

23 medical services organization of any amount pro24 vided for under such paragraph. 


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1 ‘‘(d) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe 

2 regulations to carry out this section. 

3 ‘‘(e) REPORTS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) REPORTS FROM RECIPIENTS.—A State or 

5 local government, non-profit firefighter association, 

6 or governmental or nongovernmental emergency 

7 medical service organization that receives funds 

8 under this section to carry out a volunteer firefighter 

9 incentive program for a fiscal year shall submit to 

10 the Secretary a report on— 

11 ‘‘(A) the use of such funds; and 

12 ‘‘(B) the programs to recruit or retain vol13 unteer firefighters carried out by the govern14 ment, association, or organization during that 

15 fiscal year. 

16 ‘‘(2) REPORTS FROM THE SECRETARY.—Not 

17 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 

18 the Volunteer Firefighter and EMS Support Act of 

19 2008, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall 

20 submit to Congress a report on— 

21 ‘‘(A) the activities carried out under this 

22 section during the previous year; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) the status of programs to recruit and 

2 retain volunteer firefighters in the United 

3 States.’’. 

Æ 


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