We wrote letters to members of the New York State Assembly and Senate legislative committees, which would consider the bill, and to every member of the legislature asking them to support my personal bill. I spoke before numerous town and village board and county legislatures all across the state asking for memorializing resolutions supporting my bill. I also received backing from the Fireman's Association of the State of New York, which strongly lobbied for it. Encouraged by the passing of these two bills, I examined the volunteer fire fighter disability laws in other states. I discovered that volunteers in some states also suffer with disability benefits that are locked into the year that they were injured.
Some states have absolutely no disability benefits.
Volunteers who are seriously injured while on an authorized emergency response and cannot return to work because of these injuries must face a life of poverty. Workers' compensation laws vary quite a bit from state to state. Some offer volunteers the same disability coverage as a career fire fighter in a neighboring community. Other states offer no disability benefits at all for volunteers injured in the line of duty because it's considered to be a no-loss job. Since volunteers aren't paid, they haven't lost any wages.