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.
