81st Legislature Final Report Card

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81st Legislature Final Report Card
SFFMA

All in all, the SFFMA and the volunteer fire service had a very good legislative session. As in all sessions, there are some bills we are passionate about, some bills we watch, and some we watch to keep our backsides secure. As usual we had very good response from firefighters when we asked for calls and contacts. The office staff and the one man army known as Trey Blocker did an outstanding job. For purposes of this discussion, we are going to divide bills up into the categories of passionately pushed, watched and watch our backsides.

You will note several bills that say they are awaiting the Governor’s signature. The Governor has until June 21 to either sign or veto a bill. If he does not sign or veto it, it will become law automatically without his signature.

Bills Passionately Pushed

SB 254 by Senator Estes with exact versions introduced in the House by Representatives Phil King, Pena, and Farabee. This was our fuel tax exemption bill for fire departments. It passed the House and Senate and has already been SIGNED by Governor Perry.

HB 2013 by Representative Keffer (sponsored in the Senate by Senator Hegar). This bill gives tuition exemption for volunteer firefighters who are advanced accredited certified through the SFFMA and are pursing a degree in fire science at a State College. Passed the House and Senate and is awaiting the Governor’s signature. SIGNED

HB 4002 by Representative Swinford. This bill funds a wildfire protection plan for the Texas Forest Service. Passed House and Senate and is awaiting the Governor’s signature. This bill provides five million annually in funding for the Forest Service. (It is my understanding that the Forest Service’s Legislative Request for additional funds was also approved at $3 million) SIGNED

HB 2914 by Representative McReynolds. This bill establishes a fuel mitigation pilot grant program for fire departments. Passed the House and Senate. Awaiting the Governor’s signature. SIGNED

HB 3960 by Representative McReynolds. This bill clarified and made plain language that ensured that Workman’s Compensation Insurance if carried on a volunteer firefighter was in force while the volunteer was responding to an emergency. Passed House committee, but died waiting on full House consideration.

SB 1485 by Senator Watson. This bill allows an emergency services district to sell surplus equipment to a volunteer fire department. Passed the House and Senate and is awaiting Governor Perry’s signature SIGNED

HB 784 by Representative Hughes. This bill would allow volunteers to purchase more than one set of volunteer license plates. Passed the House, but died in the Senate Transportation Committee.

HB 1913 by Representative McReynolds. This bill was the language clean up bill for the Black Hydrant Legislation. It was agreed to by all stakeholders and passed the Urban Affairs Committee in the House. It died waiting for full House action. (It is my understanding that the House was five bills away from considering it when they adjourned).

BILLS WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE DONE SOMETHING WITH

We just sort of found HB 1664 by Representative Phil King. Because of its caption, it did not show up in searches, but it is a good bill. It makes it unlawful for any entity in the Upper Trinity Groundwater District to charge a fire department or an emergency services district production fees for water used in an emergency or for training for an emergency. This bill has passed the House and Senate and is awaiting the Governor’s signature. SIGNED

HB 857 by Representative Laubenberg amends the Water Code to make outdoor burning offenses progressive in punishment. This bill makes it where local law enforcement can enforce TCEQ rules and can up the penalities if the offender persists. Passed the House and Senate and is awaiting the Governor’s signature. SIGNED

HB 2751 SIGNED

BILLS WE WATCH TO COVER OUR BACKSIDES

SB 1011 by Senator Estes. This thing has had more names than a Hollywood starlet. This thing started out life as HB 3390 by Representative Harper Brown. HB 3390 was amended to include a regulation of volunteer firefighters to mention just a few of the bad things. HB 2298 by Representative Davis was amended to substitute the language of the HB 3390. HB 2298 and HB 3390 were disasters for the volunteer fire service. We opposed them and got them killed. In the meantime, SB 1011 was passed by the Senate. It was not really a bad bill. It did have a couple of points that we weren’t real happy about, but here it came to the House. In committee, the entire text of SB 1011 was stricken and the text of HB 2298 was substituted, but the bill is still known as SB 1011. This bill was passed out of Committee and heard on the House floor. The amendments that we were opposed to (volunteer regulation) were struck, but in a floor amendment an amendment was added to call for a study of volunteer training, moving the HB 2604 monies to the Texas Commission on Fire Protection and this doggone thing passed the House. Our good friends in the Senate championed by Senator Estes and Senator Hegar refused to concur and forced a conference committee. The bill which emerged from the conference committee is basically a good bill. It’s key points are:
1. The study on volunteer training goes away
2. The HB 2604 money stays with the forest service
3. The grant funding program the Commission now has is transferred to the Forest Service with the stipulation that for that money the cap of 20 employees is removed.
4. The Advisory Council for the Texas Commission on Fire Protection stays in place.

SIGNED

HB 1511 by Representative Otto. This bill prohibits a city from passing an ordinance requiring residential sprinklers in homes of less than 7500 square feet. This thing was in dire straits until SB 1410 was amended to include this language, “"Notwithstanding any other provision of state law, after January 1, 2009, a municipality may not enact an ordinance, bylaw, order, building code, or rule requiring the installation of a multipurpose residential fire protection sprinkler system or any other fire sprinkler protection system in a new or existing one or two-family dwelling. A municipality may adopt an ordinance, bylaw, order, or rule allowing a multipurpose residential fire protection sprinkler specialist or other contractor to offer, for a fee, the installation of a fire sprinkler protection system in a new one or two-family dwelling." This bill passed the House and Senate and is sitting on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature. This thing passed the Senate 24-7 despite opposition from the fire service, TML and several other agencies and organizations. There is a lesson to be learned here. SIGNED


BILLS WE WATCHED THAT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE FIRE SERVICE

HB 1146 by Representative Anchia—applies to working hours of paid firefighters in cities of one million or more in population. Passed House and Senate and awaiting the Governor’s signature SIGNED

HB 4123 by Representative Alonzo—collective bargaining for paid firefighters. Left pending in House Committee

HB 846 by Representative Mando Martinez—provides for EMS, fire and police to only have to provide information on incidents occurring after their last license renewal.
Passed House and Senate and awaiting Governor’s signature SIGNED

SB 1007 by Senator Hegar This is the Sunset Bill for the State Board of Insurance which includes the State Fire Marshals Office. We had some work we wanted to do here, but we had to abandon it due to all the problems with potential volunteer regulation. This bill passed the Senate and passed out of the House Committee. It died waiting on full House action. If there is a special session, this will probably be in the call.

HB 2348 by Representative Dutton This bill relates to a contract between a water supply district and a municipality for the providing of fire suppression water. Passed House and Senate and is awaiting Governor Perry’s signature SIGNED

HB 2807 by Representative Maldonado relating to the water pressure standards for fire hydrants in certain municipalities. Died in House Committee

HB 3603 by Representative Paxton relating to the study of fire flow service by water supply corporations in semi urban areas. Died in House Committee

HB 3609 by Representative Miller relating to a requirement to provide sufficient water pressure for fire suppression in special utility districts. Died in House Committee

HB 1587 by Representative Rose allowing for voluntary marking of out of service fire hydrants. SFFMA opposed this bill and Representative Rose withdrew it.

HB 3447 by Representative Bolton allowing for emergency services districts to impose an advalorem tax for acquiring land , equipment or construction. Passed House. Voted out of Senate Committee. Died awaiting full Senate action.

HB 2737 by Representative Bolton allowing the sale of used, surplus or salvage property by an emergency services district to a volunteer fire department. Passed the House. Died in Senate Committee

HB 793 by Representative Phil King. This bill allowed for the charging of reasonable fees by volunteer fire departments. The draft of this bill was not satisfactory to anybody. Representative King withdrew the bill.

HB 90 by Representative Martinez banning novelty lighters. Passed the House, but died in Senate Committee

HB 959 by Representative Bonnen granting an extra homestead exemption fo volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel. We testified for this bill, but it died in House Committee

HB 1585 by Representative Rose granting an extra homestead exemption to volunteer firefighters, EMS personnel and foster care providers. Did not receive hearing in House Committee

HB 1026 by Representative Edwards. We originally opposed this bill, but when Representative Edwards amended it have it only apply to counties within 100 miles of the coast, we dropped our opposition. It organizes regional response teams along House Representative District lines. Passed House Committee. Died while waiting for hearing by full House

HB 2854 by Representative Hughes allowing paid fire service organizations that have personalized license plates to designate what charitable organization the fees from the sale of those plates goes to. This has nothing to do with volunteer license plates. Passed the House and Senate and is awaiting Governor Perry’s signature SIGNED


APPRECIATION

We were very good about expressing our desires to our legislators. We need to express our appreciation as well. Please (especially if you are in their district) send letters to the following legislators. You might want to write a generic letter expressing your appreciation for all the person’s help during the session and then insert the names on each to personalize them.

Senator’s addresses are: Senator____________________
P.O. Box 12068, Capitol Station
Austin, TX 78711

Representative’s addresses: Representative______________
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768

SENATORS

Senator Glenn Hegar Was set to sponsor black hydrant bill in Senate
Worked for us on SB 1011
Author of SB 1007
Sponsored tuition bill in the Senate

Senator Craig Estes Author of SB 1011 and worked hard to champion our cause
get it amended the way we needed it
Author of SB 254 Fuel tax exemption bill

Senator Jane Nelson Cosigned fuel tax exemption bill

Senator Kirk Watson Cosigned fuel tax exemption bill
Authored bill allowing ESD to sell surplus equipment to
volunteer fire departments

Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. Worked for us on conference committee on SB 1011

Senator Juan Hinojosa Worked for us on conference committee on SB 1011

Senator Troy Frasier Worked for us on conference committee on SB 1011


REPRESENTATIVES

Rep. Jim Keffer Authored tuition exemption bill

Rep. Aaron Pena Authored fuel tax exemption bill

Rep. David Farabee Authored fuel tax exemption bill

Rep. Phil King Authored fuel tax exemption bill
Authored “no cost” water bill

Rep. Jim McReynolds Authored black hydrant bill
Authored fuel mitigation pilot project bill
Authored bill clarifying workman’s compensation coverage
for responding volunteers

Rep. David Swinford Authored wildfire protection bill

Rep. Dennis Bonnen Cosigned fuel tax exemption bill
Authored extra homestead exemption bill

Rep. Dan Flynn Cosigned fuel tax exemption bill

Rep. Wayne Christian Cosigned fuel tax exemption bill

Rep. Joe Deshotel Cosigned fuel tax exemption bill

Rep. Yvonne Gonzales Toureilles Cosigned fuel tax exemption bill

Rep. Tim Kleinschmidt Cosigned fuel tax exemption bill

Rep. Sid Miller Cosigned fuel tax exemption bill

Rep. Bryon Hughes Author of license plate bill