Telecommunicator Reclassification

Efforts Within the Commonwealth

With the start of 2019, we begin a new legislative session on Beacon Hill and restart our efforts to reclassify certified emergency telecommunications across the Commonwealth from Group 1 into Group 2 of the public retirement system.

Two bills have been introduced into the House of Representatives and the Senate:

Bill S.1529 An Act relative to Massachusetts certified emergency telecommunications – Introduced by Senator Paul R Feeney and other co-sponsors.

Bill H.2366 An Act relative to Massachusetts certified emergency telecommunicators – Introduced by Representative Todd Smola and other co-sponsors.

Both Bills were referred to Joint Committee on Public Service on 01/22/2019.

National Efforts

Nationally, Rep. Torres  and Rep. Fitzpatrick are the sponsors of the 911 Saves Act, which will be introduced on Thursday March 7, 2019. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) currently classifies Public Safety Telecommunicators in the administrative/clerical category. The 911 Saves Act would ensure that Public Safety Telecommunicators are categorized as “Protective Service Occupations,” which includes a broad range of “protective” occupations: lifeguards, fish and game wardens, parking enforcement workers, firefighters, and even playground monitors, among others. Reclassification is about getting Public Safety Telecommunicators the recognition they deserve for the work they do every day to protect and save the lives of the public and first responders.  Additionally, including Public Safety Telecommunicators in the Protective Service group would make the SOC a more accurate and therefore more useful statistical resource, and would also better align the SOC with related classification systems. It is a simple, zero-cost legislative fix to reclassify Public Safety Telecommunicators as Protective Service Occupations.

MCSA representatives were present during the “911 Goes to Washington” conference, and will continue to work with Rep. Torres and Rep. Fitzpatrick to move the 911 Saves Act Along.

We urge all of Massachusetts Public Safety Telecommunicators to reach out to members of congress, and invite them to join us in the reclassification efforts.

Make sure to visit the Facebook page of Congresswoman Torres this Thursday March 7, 2019 at 3:30 p.m. eastern as the 911 SAVES Act will be introduced and streamed live, members of MCSA’s Executive Board will be present to support the new 911 Saves Act.

 

Click Here for contact information for the Massachusetts House Members.

Click Here for contact information for the Massachusetts Members of Congress.

Legislative Profiles

Many of us do not have experience with advocating for legislation or meeting with our legislative representatives. This booklet was created with each you in mind to assist in determining which members reside within your region or represent your town and city. We request you contact your respective legislators for support of both retirement bills. This portfolio is for the members of MCSA to use to determine
which members reside within their regions so contact can be made
with each legislator for support of both retirement bills.

Massachusetts Dispatchers now is the critical time for your voice to be heard!!!

We need to let the folks on Beacon Hill know how important this legislation is to the emergency telecommunicators of the Commonwealth and the way to do that is by letting them hear your voice.

Don’t delay in contacting your Representatives and Senators, make those calls today. get your family and friends to make calls and write letters.

Push it out on your social media and tag your elected officials, make it as public as possible.

Contact the members of the Joint Committee on Public Service to voice the importance of these bills!