II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1015 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 3, 2019 

Mr. BURR (for himself and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

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’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Public safety telecommunicators play a crit2 ical role in emergency response. 

3 (2) The work performed by public safety tele4 communicators goes far beyond merely relaying in5 formation between the public and first responders. 

6 (3) When responding to reports of missing, ab7 ducted, and sexually exploited children, the informa8 tion obtained and actions taken by public safety tele9 communicators form the foundation for an effective 

10 response. 

11 (4) When a hostage taker or suicidal person 

12 calls 9–1–1, the first contact is with the public safe13 ty telecommunicator whose negotiation skills can 

14 prevent the situation from getting worse. 

15 (5) During active shooter incidents, public safe16 ty telecommunicators coach callers through first aid 

17 and give advice to prevent further harm, all while 

18 collecting vital information to provide situational 

19 awareness for responding officers. 

20 (6) When gunshots are fired at police officers, 

21 firefighters, or emergency medical technicians, their 

22 calls for help go to public safety telecommunicators. 

23 (7) Public safety telecommunicators often com24 municate with people in great distress, harm, fear, 


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1 or injury, while employing their experience and 

2 training to recognize a critical piece of information. 

3 (8) There have been incidents in which public 

4 safety telecommunicators, recognizing the sound of a 

5 racked shotgun, have prevented serious harm or 

6 death of law enforcement officers who would have 

7 otherwise walked into a trap. 

8 (9) The work of public safety telecommunica9 tors comes with an extreme emotional and physical 

10 impact that is compounded by long hours and the 

11 around-the-clock nature of the job. 

12 (10) Research has suggested that public safety 

13 telecommunicators are exposed to trauma that may 

14 lead to the development of posttraumatic stress dis15 order. 

16 (11) Recognizing the risks associated with expo17 sure to traumatic events, some agencies provide crit18 ical incident stress debriefing teams to lessen the 

19 psychological impact and accelerate recovery for 

20 public safety telecommunicators and first respond21 ers, alike. 

22 (12) The Standard Occupational Classification 

23 System is designed and maintained solely for statis24 tical purposes, and is used by Federal statistical 

25 agencies to classify workers and jobs into occupaVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 Apr 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1015.IS S1015

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1 tional categories for the purpose of collecting, calcu2 lating, analyzing, or disseminating data. 

3 (13) Occupations in the Standard Occupational 

4 Classification are classified based on work performed 

5 and, in some cases, on the skills, education, or train6 ing needed to perform the work. 

7 (14) Classifying public safety telecommunica8 tors as a protective service occupation would correct 

9 an inaccurate representation in the Standard Occu10 pational Classification, recognize these professionals 

11 for the lifesaving work they perform, and better 

12 align the Standard Occupational Classification with 

13 related classification systems. 

14 SEC. 3. REVIEW OF STANDARD OCCUPATIONAL CLASSI15 FICATION SYSTEM. 

16 The Director of the Office of Management and Budg17 et shall, not later than 30 days after the date of the enact18 ment of this Act, categorize public safety telecommunica19 tors as a protective service occupation under the Standard 

20 Occupational Classification System. 

Æ 


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