Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise to introduce a bill with my friend and colleague from Maryland, Senator Cardin, that will benefit the brave women and men who volunteer as emergency personnel: The Volunteer Emergency Services Recruitment and Retention Act.

Across our Nation, volunteer emergency personnel play a critical role in ensuring the safety of our communities and the well-being of our neighbors. They serve as the firefighters, EMS, and other first responders that we depend on in our times of need. The State of Maine, for example, has approximately 9,785 firefighters who serve the State's 1.3 million citizens. Maine is largely a rural State, and more than 90 percent of firefighters are volunteers. Without these dedicated volunteers, many smaller communities would be unable to provide firefighting and other emergency services at all.

Often, communities seek to recruit and retain volunteers by offering modest benefits. One of the most common benefits are Length of Service Award Programs or LOSAPs. These are retirement accounts provided to volunteer emergency responders. The legislation we are introducing today would support these efforts by helping to ensure that these nominal benefits to volunteers are not entangled in bureaucracy or needlessly held back by regulations. Specifically, the Volunteer Emergency Services Recruitment and Retention Act would simplify how LOSAPs are taxed without increasing or reducing Federal spending or taxes. It would do this by eliminating burdensome and confusing IRS requirements that make it unnecessarily difficult for volunteer emergency personnel to receive benefits and for departments to administer plans.

Mr. President, we should take care to protect our volunteer emergency personnel who serve this country with such bravery. Our legislation would help us achieve that goal, and I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this bill.

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