Resolution No. 31
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENT: Legislative
Re: Support Federal Firefighters Fairness Act – H.R. 3718 – Adopted
1 | WHEREAS, in 1982, CPF secured California’s |
2 | first cancer presumption statute protecting state and |
3 | local government fire fighters and other public safety |
4 | officers, which specifies that any cancer so |
5 | developing or manifesting itself in a fire fighter shall |
6 | be presumed to arise out of and in the course of |
7 | employment; and |
8 | WHEREAS, at first glance, the dangers fire |
9 | fighters face today might appear to mirror what they |
10 | faced a hundred years ago. But our members know |
11 | that a closer look reveals quite the opposite. With the |
12 | advent of polyvinyl chloride, asbestos and |
13 | polychlorinated biphenyls, just to name a select few, |
14 | a fire fighter’s work environment has changed |
15 | dramatically since even the 1980s, when the public |
16 | safety cancer presumption was first adopted in |
17 | California; and |
18 | WHEREAS, since 1982, CPF has not only been |
19 | successful in expanding California’s presumptive |
20 | statutes to include other job-caused illnesses and |
21 | injuries, but each of the remaining 49 states have |
22 | also since passed some form of similar presumptive |
23 | legislation, but these state presumptive laws do not |
24 | apply to those fire fighters who are employed by the |
25 | federal government; and |
26 | WHEREAS, because federal fire fighters are not |
27 | protected by a federal presumptive statute, when a |
28 | federal fire fighter is diagnosed with a type of lung |
29 | disease or some form of cancer, they are faced with |
30 | the daunting task of proving when, where and what |
31 | type of exposure caused said disease before it can |
32 | be considered job-caused – a link that is often |
33 | impossible for a fire fighter to make given the |
34 | complex synergistic effects of multiple compound |
35 | exposures, as well as the rapidly growing |
36 | introduction of new chemicals and industrial |
37 | compounds into our environment; and |
38 | WHEREAS, there is a long-overdue need to |
39 | adequately protect the rights and benefits of all |
40 | federal fire fighters who, like their state and local |
41 | government counterparts, become ill as a result of |
42 | hazardous occupational exposures and the daily |
43 | stresses of the job, especially when such exposures |
44 | can result in catastrophic illnesses, such as cancer; |
45 | therefore be it |
46 | RESOLVED, That the delegates to the 2014 IAFF |
47 | Convention wholeheartedly support H.R. 3718, |
48 | sponsored by California Congresswoman Lois |
49 | Capps, which would enact the Federal Firefighters |
50 | Fairness Act and remedy this inequity by affording |
51 | presumptive parity to California’s federal fire |
52 | fighters and their colleagues nationwide; and be it |
53 | further |
54 | RESOLVED, That the IAFF transmit a copy of |
55 | this resolution to Congresswoman Capps. |
Submitted by: California Professional Firefighters
Cost Estimate: None
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