Senate Bill S8574

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8574

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to reporting by the
office of fire prevention and control

 
PURPOSE:

This bill will ensure the safety of all paid and volunteer fire fight-
ers, by updating the reporting requirements in relation to training and
qualifications.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 Paragraph 17 of section 156 of the executive law is amended to
read as follows:

Issue a written report to the governor and legislature, on or before
February fifteenth of each year, on firefighter training activities.
Such report shall include at least the following information: the mini-
              

mum training hours allocated on a county-by-county basis, the training
hours requested by each county, any unfulfilled training hour requests,
the number of hours used by each county on a county-by-county basis, and
a statewide total of the number of hours allocated to each firefighter.

Such report shall also identify the fire department or district provid-
ing the training including the number of hours of training and the type
of training for each firefighter. In addition, such report shall also
list the names of those firefighters qualified to do interior firefight-
ing. The written report shall be prominently posted on the division of
homeland security and emergency services website no later than March
first of each year.

Section 2 states the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This legislation requires the Office of Fire Prevention and Control
(OFPC) to calculate the names and hours of all firefighters in New York
State qualified for interior firefighting and for that information to be
posted and updated annually on the New York State Division of Homeland
Security and Emergency Services website.

Ensuring appropriate recordkeeping and public notification of which
firefighters in New York State have the appropriate and type of training
to qualify for interior firefighting is a critical and commonsense
public safety measure. This legislation will create a very clear under-
standing of the specific tasks and duties each firefighter is approved
to handle at a fire or emergency situation.

Very often, smaller fire districts, departments, and companies do not
have the ability, space or personnel to appropriately retain an appro-
priate recordkeeping of their firefighters. New York State Comptroller
Thomas DiNapoli has recognized the need for more transparency for fire
protection costs and his office released a March 2017 report titled,
Fire Protection in New York State: How Is It Provided in Your Communi-
ty?, which noted: "Many of these entities are quite small and - as noted
above - run by part-time and volunteer staff. While many of these organ-
izations do a good job of maintaining financial records, there have been
instances where weak internal controls or lack of governing board over-
sight have led to negative outcomes."

A statewide collection and reporting system will add to increased safety
and transparency. OFPC is already required to issue an annual written
report to the governor and legislature on firefighter training activ-
ities and this legislation would simply add additional and critical
information to the existing report.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2017-2018- S.6235/ A.8018 Akshar/Abbate - Referred to Finance/ Referred
to Governmental Operation.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.