House committee tables 'tough love' bill requiring workers' comp for volunteer firefighters
The state House Judiciary committee tabled Wednesday a bill opening a three-year window for workers’ compensation benefits to be provided for all Montana volunteer firefighters.
Senate Bill 29 cleared the Senate Jan. 29 but was not referred to a House committee until last week. The bill calls for all volunteer fire departments in Montana to provide workers’ compensation coverage by October 2022. It’s estimated that a quarter of Montana’s 8,000 volunteer firefighters are not covered.
“The need to consider this legislation is that a volunteer fireman has no backup if they’re not covered here,” said bill sponsor and Senate Majority Leader Fred Thomas, R-Stevensville. “There’s no fund, there’s no pool of money, there’s nothing out there that if a volunteer fireman, say a 22-year-old man, was paralyzed falling off a ladder or something protecting your house, there’s nowhere to go to take care of him except if you really had a workers’ compensation policy, in fact.”
Thomas said individual policies cost about $100 to $125 annually, though the bill’s fiscal note names a $130 rate for coverage under the Montana Association of Counties. Chief Nate Curtis of the Sun Prairie Volunteer Fire Department told the committee that helmets cost his department more than workers’ compensation coverage.
Read more: https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/house-committee-tables-tough-love-bill-requiring-workers-comp-for/article_774971c9-a8ad-56d5-bd62-19602c43ac6b.html