Volunteer Firefighters

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, under the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate, volunteer organizations with 50 or more employees could be forced to provide health insurance or pay penalties. This could decimate the financial solvency of firefighting organizations across my home State and the country.

I, along with colleagues from the House and Senate, have pushed to have the Internal Revenue Service clarify this situation. Last month I joined with Pennsylvania Representative Lou Barletta, along with 30 other colleagues, on the introduction of legislation that would ensure these volunteers are not counted as full-time employees under the ACA.

As a result of these efforts, on Friday, January 10, the IRS announced they will not be considering volunteer firefighters as employees for purposes of the law. While the IRS announcement is a huge step in the right direction, that does not make the decision final. The devil always tends to be in the details.

Mr. Speaker, this cloud of uncertainty for our volunteers and the populations they protect must be removed. With that said, I look forward to reviewing the final ruling and will work to ensure there is certainty provided in a timely fashion.

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