113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3979 

AN ACT 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure 

that emergency services volunteers are not taken into 

account as employees under the shared responsibility requirements contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
2 

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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Volunteer 

3 Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act of 2014’’. 

4 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY SERVICES, GOVERNMENT, AND CER5 TAIN NONPROFIT VOLUNTEERS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4980H(c) of the Internal 

7 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by redesignating para8 graphs (5), (6), and (7) as paragraphs (6), (7), and (8), 

9 respectively, and by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol10 lowing new paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(5) SPECIAL RULES FOR CERTAIN EMERGENCY

12 SERVICES, GOVERNMENT, AND NONPROFIT VOLUN13 TEERS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) EMERGENCY SERVICES VOLUN15 TEERS.—Qualified services rendered as a bona 

16 fide volunteer to an eligible employer shall not 

17 be taken into account under this section as 

18 service provided by an employee. For purposes 

19 of the preceding sentence, the terms ‘qualified 

20 services’, ‘bona fide volunteer’, and ‘eligible em21 ployer’ shall have the respective meanings given 

22 such terms under section 457(e). 

23 ‘‘(B) CERTAIN OTHER GOVERNMENT AND

24 NONPROFIT VOLUNTEERS.— 

25 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Services rendered 

26 as a bona fide volunteer to a specified em-
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1 ployer shall not be taken into account 

2 under this section as service provided by 

3 an employee. 

4 ‘‘(ii) BONA FIDE VOLUNTEER.—For 

5 purposes of this subparagraph, the term 

6 ‘bona fide volunteer’ means an employee of 

7 a specified employer whose only compensa8 tion from such employer is in the form 

9 of— 

10 ‘‘(I) reimbursement for (or rea11 sonable allowance for) reasonable ex12 penses incurred in the performance of 

13 services by volunteers, or 

14 ‘‘(II) reasonable benefits (includ15 ing length of service awards), and 

16 nominal fees, customarily paid by 

17 similar entities in connection with the 

18 performance of services by volunteers. 

19 ‘‘(iii) SPECIFIED EMPLOYER.—For 

20 purposes of this subparagraph, the term 

21 ‘specified employer’ means— 

22 ‘‘(I) any government entity, and 

23 ‘‘(II) any organization described 

24 in section 501(c) and exempt from tax 

25 under section 501(a). 
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1 ‘‘(iv) COORDINATION WITH SUBPARA2 GRAPH (A).—This subparagraph shall not 

3 fail to apply with respect to services merely 

4 because such services are qualified services 

5 (as defined in section 457(e)(11)(C)).’’. 

6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

7 this section shall apply to months beginning after Decem8 ber 31, 2013. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 11, 

2014. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3979 

AN ACT 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 

the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. shared responsibility requirements contained in taken into account as employees under the ensure that emergency services volunteers are not