SFFMA Legislative UPDATE

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From Steve Perdue, T*FLAG Chairman:

We are going to start placing legislative bulletins on the web site at least weekly until the session is over. You may look for an updated calendar of what is coming up for a week by Monday morning as well as a “report card” of the status of various bills. Please become involved by contacting legislators on bills of concern to you and your fellow firefighters. Speaking as 20,000 firefighters the SFFMA can make a difference, but your voice has to be heard. Information on specific phone numbers for legislators as well as full copies of bills can be found at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us

The committee hearing calendar for this coming week is as follows:

4/6 SB 1007 (Hegar) Governmental Affairs
This is the Sunset Bill for the State Board of Insurance.
It is the bill that impacts the State Fire Marshals Office.
If we are going to make a change to make the State Fire
Marshal investigate all line of duty deaths (he now
Investigates only deaths that occur during actual fire
Fighting activities), this is the place to do it, but Senator
Hegar has said he will not accept amendments to SB 1007,
so we are just waiting until this thing surfaces in the house
or Hegar changes his mind about amendments.

4/6 HB 2737 (Bolton)
Allows the sale of used, surplus or salvage property by
an ESD to a VFD County Affairs

4/6 HB 3960 (McReynolds) Business & Industry
Ensures that Workman’s Compensation Insurance if
carried on a volunteer or employee of an emergency services
organization is in effect while responding to an emergency


4/8 HB 3477 (Bolton)
Allows an emergency services district to impose an ad
valorem tax for acquiring land, equipment or construction Ways and Means

4/8 HB 1587 (Rose) Urban Affairs
This bill allows for voluntary marking of out of service
fire hydrants.
WE HAVE TO OPPOSE THIS BILL AS IT DOES AWAY
WITH ANY GOOD FROM HB 2013

4/8 HB 1146 (Anchia) Urban Affairs
This bill applies to working hours of paid firefighters
in cities of one million population or more.
It has no effect on most firefighters

Progress report—not in any special order

SB 254 by Estes—Fuel tax exemption—pending in Senate Finance

HB 387, HB 606, HB 797 by Pena, Farabee, King—Fuel tax exemption. All are referred to Ways and Means and are awaiting committee action.
All of these representatives have asked for hearing dates, but Ways and Means is backlogged with bills. Their Chairman said Thursday that
the committee will start having meetings on weekends and at every opportunity to work through the backlog, but he hasn’t scheduled
anything special yet.

HB 4002 by McReynolds) Wildfire Protection Plan Funding (one of several requests) Reported favorably from Committee on its way to Calendars

HB 2013 by Keffer allowing tuition free for volunteers with advanced accredited certification pursuing a degree in fire science at a public college.
Pending in Higher Education Committee. If you want this thing out of Committee, we need calls to everybody on that Committee immediately.

HB 793 by P..King allowing for the charging of reasonable fees by emergency services performed by volunteer fire departments. This bill is scheduled for
hearing, but is supposed to be pulled by the author. This bill has absolutely no chance of passing and is not acceptable to anybody including the people who asked Rep. King to introduce it. King says he would rather concentrate his efforts on passing fuel tax exemption rather than on this losing effort.

HB 90 by Mando Martinez banning novelty lighters. Pending in House State Affairs Committee

HB 959 by Bonnen grants extra homestead exemption to volunteer firefighters and volunteer EMS providers. Pending in Ways and Means

HB 1585 by Rose grants extra homestead exemption to volunteer firefighters, volunteer EMS providers and foster care providers. Awaiting hearing in
Ways and Means

HB 1026 by Edwards organizing regional response teams along House Representatives district lines. We are opposed to this bill
Left pending in Defense & Veterans Affairs Committee

SB 1485 by Watson allowing ESD’s to sell surplus equipment to VFD’s. Was supposed to be heard in Intergovernmental Relations April 1. We provided
written testimony in support of this bill.

HB 2854 by Hughes allows paid fire service organization that has personalized license plates to designate what charitable organization the fees from the sale of
those plates goes to. Left pending in House Transportation Subcommittee on License Plates. This bill has no effect on the volunteer license plates.

HB 784 by Hughes allows volunteers to purchse more than one set of volunteer certified license plates. Left pending in House Transportation Subcommittee on
License Plates

HB 1913 by McReynolds This is the clean up bill for black hydrants. Left pending in Urban Affairs