Here is a list, current as of today, of members of Congress who have officially been added as cosponsors to the Dale Long Act (S. 385) or the Danny McIntosh Act (H.R. 1668.
One of NAEMT's legislative
priorities is to ensure that paramedics and EMTs who are employed by
nongovernmental EMS agencies are covered by the Public Safety Officer Benefit
(PSOB) program. The PSOB program provides death benefits to the family
members of public safety officers who die in the line of duty.
To extend coverage to paramedics
and EMTs employed by private non-profit EMS agencies, Senator Patrick Leahy
(D-VT) introduced the Dale Long Emergency Medical Service Providers Protection Act (S. 385) and Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the Danny
McIntosh Emergency Medical Service Providers Protection Act (H.R. 1668). H.R. 1668 has been referred to the House
Judiciary Committee and S. 385 was included in the Senate version of the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Authorization Bill. The House also
passed a version of the FAA bill which did not include the Dale Long Act
language so House and Senate conferees are currently negotiating to merge the
two bills.
Senator Leahy has also introduced
the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Improvements Act of 2011 (S. 1696)
which would improve the PSOB program. Included as part of S. 1696 is the
language of the Dale Long Act (S. 385) which provides yet another
legislative vehicle for expending federal death benefit coverage to paramedics
and EMTs employed by private non-profit EMS agencies and who die in the line of
duty. NAEMT strongly supports expanding the program to those paramedics
and EMTs employed by all nongovernmental EMS agencies.
Below is a list, current as of
today, of members of Congress who have officially been added as cosponsors to
the Dale Long Act (S. 385) or the Danny McIntosh Act (H.R. 1668.
The names of sponsors and champions of the bills are underlined.
Dale Long Act (S. 1353)
Cosponsors
ID: Sen. Mike Crapo
MA: Sen. John Kerry
MN: Sen. Al Franken
NY: Sen. Chuck Schumer
ND: Sen. Kent Conrad
VT: Sen. Patrick Leahy,
Sen. Bernie Sanders
Danny McIntosh Act (H.R.
1668) Cosponsors
CT: Rep. Joe Courtney
PA: Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick