President Joseph R. Biden this week signed into law multiple pieces of legislation that will benefit the fire and emergency services.
The Protecting America’s First Responders Act expands the Public Safety Officer Benefits (PSOB) program and makes certain changes to allow the program to function in an improved manner.
Among the provisions, the bill specifies that public safety personnel who have suffered catastrophic injuries may continue to be employed as long as the employment meets certain criteria, such as minimal compensation, or work done for therapeutic purposes.
Other provisions in the landmark bill include:
- Retroactively extending the updated disability provision to personnel who responded to the 9/11 attacks.
- Expanded eligibility to include public safety officers who were not previously covered, such as fire-police officers.
- Ties certain benefit amounts to when the ruling is made, not when the claim was filed.
- Makes adjustments to the education benefit for dependents.
- Doubles the interim death payment from $3,000 to $6,000 and links it to the Consumer Price Index for adjustments.
The bill also includes an extension of COVID-19 presumption, whereby a public safety officer who dies or is injured after contracting COVID-19 is considered to have contracted the illness on the job and therefore is eligible for PSOB benefits.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provides significant funding for a broad range of infrastructure projects, and among those funds is $3.4 billion that will go to the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service. Dispersal of these funds in fiscal years 2022-2026 will go toward land restoration projects, technology and equipment acquisitions, data improvements, communication upgrades, at-risk community tracking, and more.
Provisions of the infrastructure bill that will go toward wildland mitigation efforts include:
- Implementation of changes to existing policies and procedures addressing the capabilities and safety of wildland firefighting personnel.
- Creating a wildland firefighter occupational series that provides full-time employment and includes reducing hazardous fuels on public lands.
- Establishes a Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program through the Department of Agriculture that awards grants to at-risk communities.
- Creates the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission to study and improve federal policies relating to “the prevention, mitigation, suppression, and management of wildland fires in the United States” and “the rehabilitation of land in the United States devastated by wildland fires.”
