Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARBAJAL. Madam Speaker, I rise today as the author of H.R. 2499, the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act, to urge my colleagues to support this commonsense, bipartisan measure.

Madam Speaker, I wonder how many people in this Chamber or watching on C-SPAN today would be able to tell you the difference between a Federal firefighter and a State or municipal one.

I know that when communities in my home State of California call on firefighters to head to the front lines of increasingly dangerous wildfires, they certainly are not worried about what uniform or badge they are wearing.

For example, in 2017, when what was then the largest wildfire in California history, the Thomas fire, struck my district, Federal, State, and local firefighters alike left their families behind during the holiday season to fight tirelessly on the front lines, saving countless lives and property.

Madam Speaker, all of these firefighters face the same challenges and risks. But, unfortunately, there is a glaring inequity in how our firefighters are supported, and that is why we are here today.

Federal firefighters face significant hazards while on the job as they protect life and property, as well as our national interests on military installations, Federal research laboratories, veterans' hospitals, and public lands. Now, in the face of the climate crisis, Federal and municipal firefighters alike face year-round fire seasons and fires that are getting more destructive and harder to contain.

In the course of their heroism fighting these fires, firefighters are often exposed to smoke, toxic substances, high heat, and stress, putting them at an increased risk to develop occupational diseases like cancer and lung problems.

But unlike their State and local counterparts, Federal firefighters must provide the specific incident in their employment which caused their disease if they become sick, even if they fought the same fire as their local counterparts fought.

We have already addressed this issue at the local level. In 49 out of 50 States, municipal and State firefighters who develop health problems that are associated with their firefighting, those illnesses are presumed to be connected with their service. California was actually the first State to pass such a law back in 1982. But today, no such protections or benefits exist for more than 15,000 Federal firefighters across the United States. This is wrong and fundamentally unfair. That is what this bill does, fixes that challenge.

More than 200 Democrats and Republicans in this Chamber have already agreed that we should extend that same parity to our Federal firefighters by cosponsoring my bill. When disaster strikes, firefighters have our backs and keep us safe. It is high time we do the same for all of them.

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