Posted on September 19, 2023
On Saturday night, State Rep. Greg Howard (R-43) received legislative recognition from Connecticut State Firefighters Association for his advocacy during the 2023 session, especially his commitment to address staffing shortages and ways to avoid firefighter burnout.
The Connecticut State Firefighters Association is a non-profit organization that has more than 26,000 members (22,000 Volunteer Firefighters, 4400 Career Firefighters).
Rep. Howard said, “I want to thank all Connecticut firefighters for what you do for state residents each and every day; you are true heroes! God bless you all and stay safe!”
Rep. Howard help guide a new law though committee, a new 13-member task force is charged with studying the shortage of firefighters and EMS personnel in Connecticut and making recommendations to address it. The task force must report its findings and recommendations to the Public Safety and Security Committee by January 1, 2024 (SA 23-1, effective upon passage).
Rep. Howard also supported a provision in the recently enacted state budget bill, which looks to improve access to workers’ compensation benefits for firefighters who develop cancer that creates a presumption during the review process of a workers’ compensation claim that a firefighter’s cancer diagnosis is a result of their hazardous jobs unless proven otherwise. Creating this presumption will make it more difficult for firefighters to have these claims denied. It applies to any uniformed member of a paid municipal, state, or volunteer fire department, as well as local fire marshals, deputy fire marshals, fire investigators, fire inspectors, and other classes of inspectors and investigators.