SB 137 EXEMPT VOL. EMT/FIRE FGTR WAGE & HOUR LAW  CHAIRMAN LEMAN announced SB 137 to be up for consideration. MS. ANNETTE KREITZER, Staff to Senator Leman, explained that SB 137 is a result of problems that some volunteer organizations, EMS and fire fighting organizations in particular, are having with determining what is an employee and what is not an employee. MR. CRAIG LEWIS, Interior Region Emergency Medical Services Council, supported SB 137. The State's definition of employer/employee is more restrictive than the Federal Labor and Standards Act (FLSA)'s definition. Exemptions include religious organizations, cemetery workers, and educational organizations to name a few, but exclude humanitarian agencies or EMTs or other volunteers. This causes problems in terms of determining whether a person is really a volunteer or an employee. If a person is told when to come to work, is provided with a uniform, is provided with a vehicle to respond from, is provide the supplies and materials to do the job, and then also receives pay in some form (although that pay is just reimbursement from their own pocket to buy medical supplies or gasoline), that customarily causes an interpretation to be made by the wage and hour folks that that person is really an employee when, in fact, the entire intention of that individual is to volunteer. It is hard to recruit people because of this problem and makes it difficult from an organizational basis for there to be private, non-profit corporations to help with the administrative load to then be, in turn, identified as employers and then be encumbered with the large list of regulatory mandates they have to include like worker's compensation. MR. LEWIS said he has communicated with the Department of Labor in Fairbanks and this is their language. Number 192 MR. RANDY CARR, Department Labor, said this bill primarily affects those private non-profit organizations that provide fire and rescue squad services in some of the less populated areas of the State. About seven of those organizations would be affected by this bill. The private non-profit organizations are at a disadvantage because all the other volunteer fire departments and rescue operations are under the auspicious of a political subdivision and they already enjoy an exemption from the State Wage and Hour Act. He noted that they do not have any wage claims against the private for-profit entities; nor have they had any because they try to work with them. MS. MARTHA MOORE, Community Health and Emergency Medical Services, said they supported SB 137. Number 226 MS. VIRGINIA MCCARTHY, Tok EMS, said their Chief, Tom Dean, had to make an unexpected run to Fairbanks, and she was filling in. She explained that they make Anchorage and Fairbanks runs; the Fairbanks run takes 8 - 10 hours and the Anchorage run takes 12 - 15 hours and it's all voluntary. SENATOR KELLY asked how this interacts with the Worker's Compensation statute. MR. DWIGHT PERKINS, Department of Labor, said he would have to check to see if there is a correlation between the two. He didn't think there would be a problem. MS. KREITZER noted that she checked with the drafter and the Department of Labor and there isn't any impact on Worker's Compensation. SENATOR MILLER moved to pass SB 137 from committee with individual recommendations. There were no objections and it was so ordered.